


Don't Waste Your Life

by FrozenSeas, MultiShipping_Trash



Series: Because MCU Isn't Complicated Enough [1]
Category: Marvel Cinematic Universe, 僕のヒーローアカデミア | Boku no Hero Academia | My Hero Academia
Genre: Gen, Laura Barton is Clint's Sister, Laura and Clint Barton Are Not In A Relationship, Midoriya Izuku Has a Quirk, Midoriya Izuku is Tony Stark's Son, Midoriya Izuku is a Ray of Sunshine, Parent Tony Stark, Takes place during the events of Iron Man 1, Tony Stark Has A Heart, Trans Bakugou Katsuki
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-08-01
Updated: 2020-09-17
Packaged: 2021-03-05 20:08:08
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 6
Words: 39,411
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25641094
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/FrozenSeas/pseuds/FrozenSeas, https://archiveofourown.org/users/MultiShipping_Trash/pseuds/MultiShipping_Trash
Summary: 6 year old Midoriya Izuku had been told that his father was Midoriya Hisashi, but that wasn't exactly true. His father actually happened to be one Tony Stark, the same Tony Stark that had recently returned from Afghanistan after being kidnapped. Yinsen's dying words had been "Don't waste your life." Which was pointed enough to get him to try taking part in his son's life.And that decision is going to make a whole lot of things become much more complicated.(Updated with dates and multiple chapters for easier reading <3)
Series: Because MCU Isn't Complicated Enough [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1858798
Comments: 11
Kudos: 144





	1. Chapter 1

/// July 15th, 2009

Izuku was a bit worried about his mom recently. It started off with her watching the news. From what Izuku could understand something had happened to some guy who was important for some reason and he'd gone missing. He hadn't caught the name though.

And for some reason that had affected his mom and made her more anxious and worried than normal.

He'd been making sure to give her extra cuddles whenever he got the chance because of this, which seemed to help a little, but not enough.

The next thing was a letter, which seemed to reassure her a little. He'd tried to read it, but reading English wasn't his strong suit. At least not yet.

Three months went by like this with Izuku trying to comfort his mom and help her as much as he could. This also caused him to try and attempt making her breakfast at one point as a surprise, which ended in a minor fire in the kitchen, and though Inko appreciated the attempt he was banned from the stove. He also tried helping keep the house clean, but felt like he might've been doing it wrong since whenever he organized his mom always had to go back through and move things around a bit more.

Then, one day after a phone call Inko was seeming a lot better. And based on what the news was saying the man, who Izuku realized had been none other than Tony Stark, had returned. So, Izuku figured that was why she was feeling better. Though he didn't know exactly why she was so worried for Tony, he was glad she felt better now.

Izuku heard a knock at the door, and seeing as his mom was busy working on making food he called out, "I'll get it mom!"

He padded over to the front door and opened it enough to peek out, and seeing a stranger there in a hat and sunglasses he didn't open it much further than that. "U-Um… hi? Are you here to see my mom?" He asked nervously.

Tony double-checked the address on his phone for what seemed like the hundredth time that morning. “You sure this is the place, J?” He asked, seemingly no one.

“Yes, sir. I am  _ very _ sure this is the correct address, listed as the home of one Midoriya Inko.” A male, British voice spoke out of the earpiece he was wearing. “Just as certain as I was the last dozen times you asked.”

“Alright, J, no need to get an attitude.” He muttered.

“What attitude, sir? I was merely stating facts.”

Tony rolled his eyes and knocked sharply on the door, putting his (Stark)phone in his pants pocket. When the door opened, he blinked at not seeing anyone, until he looked down to see a small child peeking around the door. The freckles and the messy curls struck a chord in Tony that he hadn’t felt in a  _ long _ time.

He smiled down at the boy. “Yeah, I am.” He answered in (slightly accented) Japanese. “Is she home?” He asked.

This child must be his son. Izuku, according to Pepper. Getting kidnapped and held by terrorists for three months had really made him rethink his priorities. When he’d mentioned to Yinsen that he had a son he’d never seen, he’d been fixed with  _ such _ a  _ look _ of disdain, he’d practically been thrown back to cowering under his father’s disapproval when he was a small boy. Yinsen hadn’t  _ made _ him promise to change the fact that he’d never met the child, but his dying words “don’t waste your life” had been pointed enough to do the trick anyway.

Now he was here, in Musutafu Prefecture, Japan. In front of an ordinary-looking house owned by a woman he hadn’t seen in… 6 years? Would she even be happy to see him? Would she  _ want _ to see him? Would she let him get to know his son?

Izuku gave a gentle nod and turned back to look towards where the kitchen was. "Mom! There's a man here to see you!" He called out, letting the door close a little bit before he cracked it open again to look up at the stranger curiously. He didn't seem like anyone he knew that his mom had talked about, but then again he hadn't really met any of her coworkers.

"Alright Izu, one second!" Inko called back, finishing up what she was doing before dusting off her hands on her apron as she went before opening the door. She blinked rapidly at seeing the man in front of her. "...Tony?" She said hesitantly, "What are-" She glanced down at Izuku and put a hand in his hair, guiding him to hide behind her somewhat, which he went along with easily. "What are you doing here?"

Tony offered a slight smile. “Hello Inko.” He answered, sounding very reserved compared to his usual tone. “I… apologize for dropping by unexpectedly.” He tried, unsure. “...” He opened his mouth, then closed it again, looking down at Izuku, then back up at Inko. “I was wondering if we might… talk for a bit?”

Inko thought for a moment, running her fingers through Izuku's hair. "Sure." She said finally, taking a step back and opening the door a bit wider for him. "Come in. Leave your shoes by the door." 

She looked down at Izuku. "Izuku, can you go play up in your room for just a little bit?"

Izuku glanced at Tony before giving a small nod. "Okay mama." He gave her a gentle side hug before scurrying off towards his room, only pausing once at the stairs to glance at Tony once more before going to his room.

"What did you want to talk about that you couldn't do over the phone?" Inko asked once Izuku was out of earshot, keeping her posture and expression guarded.

“Honestly? I wasn’t sure you’d answer.” He answered with a self-deprecating smile. “I certainly wouldn’t have blamed you. I would ignore myself too, were I in your shoes.” He stepped in the house, slipping off his shoes as instructed. He waited until the kid was upstairs to continue. “I’m sure you’ve heard about my, ah… disappearing act.” He offered, keeping his smile up. “Being slapped in the face with one’s own mortality, knowing that you have a child that… doesn’t even know your name or face… well, I realised that, despite my reasons for it at the time...” He trailed off.. “Sure he’s safe from people who don’t like me, but…” He sighed, before getting to the point. “It might have been the smart move, but it wasn’t the right one. What… what I’m trying to say is… with your permission, obviously, I’d like to… correct my error. I want to get to know Izuku like I should have been from the beginning, if you’ll allow me.”

Inko's expression softened as Tony talked. She took a deep breath, crossing and uncrossing her arms. "Izuku… he's gone through a lot already. And he doesn't know anything about you in the slightest. He thinks his dad's name is Hisashi and he has a fire breathing quirk and all he really knows is that his dad is in the states and never calls." She met eyes with Tony, her expression serious. "If you really want to do this. To get to know him? I'll let you. He wants to meet his dad almost as bad as he wants to be a hero, even if both seemed completely impossible for him. I'm not going to bar that from having a chance to happen."

"Just understand one thing. If we reveal you to him? And you hurt him and back out? I  _ will _ rain hell fire." She said seriously. "I don't care who you are. Izuku is the sweetest child on the  _ planet _ and he deserves the world, you understand me?"

Tony nodded, eyes wide. He hadn’t expected to be given a chance, honestly. Like he said, he wouldn’t have blamed Inko if she’d told him to get out and never come back. He gave her a shy, genuine smile. “I do want to.” He answered earnestly. “I… I have a house, in Malibu. There’s plenty of extra space, you both can visit any time you want, and I… I’ll visit here as often as I can get away from SI business.” His expression grew more serious at Inko’s threat. “Yes  _ ma’am _ .” He nodded, still smiling slightly.

Inko hummed, offering a slight smile in return. "Well, that sounds nice. Though I don't know that Izuku would be able to handle being away from Kaede for very long…" She sighed, "We'll figure it out." She looked back towards the stairs before looking at Tony again. "You think you're ready to explain this or do you need a minute?" Inko asked gently.

Tony sighed. “Well, if I’m not ready now, I’ll never be.” He joked. Something Inko had said stood out to him, though. “He wants to be a hero? That.. makes sense.” He raised an eyebrow. “Why do you say it’s impossible?” He asked.

Inko frowned and looked to the floor. "It's too dangerous for him. He's… I took him in to get him tested when he didn't show signs of a quirk. The doctor ran some tests and told us he's quirkless." She answered, before looking back up at Tony. "That's not a problem for you, right? He's been rejected enough because of it."

Tony narrowed his eyes, remembering the series of tests  _ he’d _ gone through to find his latent mental quirk. “What kind of tests?” He pressed. He shook his head. “If he really is quirkless, that’s fine. Quirks are tools, not a way to determine a person’s worth.”

"Blood tests and an x-ray mostly?" Inko answered, "If you haven't noticed I don't exactly have money to do a deep dive off the bat, so the doctor just did those and said with the x-ray and blood work he'd be able to confirm if he had one, even if he couldn't pinpoint what it could be that way." She smiled softly at Tony's answer. "You're not wrong about that."

Tony narrowed his eyes. “X-ray?” He repeated. “He didn’t… spout that nonsense about a toe joint, did he?” He asked slowly, fairly certain that he had, indeed, used that as an ‘explanation’. “That…” he sighed. “That was debunked as a viable method for testing for quirks  _ decades _ ago.” He looked at Inko seriously. “If he’s shown no signs of a quirk, he may actually have a passive mental quirk like I do. If that is the case, with your permission, I’d like to bring him to a specialist. The same one that discovered mine, in fact. I’d cover all associated expenses, obviously.”

"He… did…" Inko answered, not having realized that since despite working in the medical field she didn't specialize in anything to do with quirks so that particular research she'd never come across. "A-Are you sure? If…" She bit her lip, "What if he really doesn't have a quirk though? I don't want to give him hope just to crush it. Like I said he's been through enough. It seems like he ended up with a small fear of doctors since then as it is."

Tony hummed. “Has he shown any signs of one? Little things that could be brushed off as just being smart, but don’t seem quite possible for a child his age? Oversensitivity to lights and sounds if he’s not focused on anything in particular?” He asked. “Of course, none of these things  _ guarantee _ a latent quirk, but tests for quirks like mine can be easily disguised as intelligence tests. That said, if you would rather not put him through more tests, that’s understandable as well.” He said easily. “I’m just here to provide options. The final decision is up to you.”

"He did get overstimulated easily a lot when he was really little… but that hasn't happened in a long while now." Inko admitted. She sighed, "I'll think about it. One thing at a time." She looked towards the stairs again and after one last glance at Tony she called out, "Izu? You want to come back downstairs?"

"Coming!" Izuku called back, bounding back downstairs after a few moments with a small All Might action figure in hand. He slowed his pace seeing the strange person still there, but approached his mom anyway. He played with the small green ring on a chain around his neck out of anxiousness as he looked between his mom and Tony.

Tony nodded, dropping the subject for now. He looked over at Izuku as he came down the stairs. He sighed nervously. Here it was, the moment of truth. He turned and knelt so he was on the child’s eye level. “Hi, Izuku.” He said softly. “My name’s Tony.” He glanced up at Inko, uncertain if he should be the one to tell him or if she wanted to be.

"H-Hi." Izuku replied, watching Tony cautiously.

"Izuku, there's a secret we want you to know. But it needs to stay secret, okay? Can you keep a secret?" Inko started, speaking softly. Izuku blinked at her in confusion but nodded. "Okay. Izuku, I've told you a little about Hisashi, right?"

Izuku nodded once more, "Mhm. That's dad, right?"

Inko took a deep breath, "That's what I've told you and other people, yes. But that's the secret. Hisashi isn't your dad, Hisashi is someone I made up. Your real dad… is Tony. Tony Stark." She said, gesturing to the man in question.

Izuku looked confused and a bit upset at first until Inko said Tony's name. He gasped quietly and his eyes snapped to Tony for a moment before something seemed to click and he looked up at Inko again. "That's why you've been worried all the time? 'Cause he disappeared like the news said? 'Cause he's my dad?"

"You noticed, huh?" Inko said, giving her son a soft smile. "Yes, that's why."

"But… why is it secret?" Izuku asked, looking back towards Tony. He shifted his feet like he wanted to move, but was holding back until his questions were answered and he understood better.

Tony thought for a second, before settling on an explanation a hero-obsessed six year old would understand. “You know about those villains you see in movies, who try to hurt the hero by going after people they care about?” He asked. “Well, there are some people who might try that against me, and if they knew you were my kid… I don’t want them to have a reason to hurt you or your mom. Does that make sense?”

Izuku’s eyes widened in understanding and he nodded quickly. “Yeah. Makes sense. I’ll keep it secret. Don’t want mama to get hurt. Um…” He bit his lip and tilted his head for a moment looking at his dad before stepping forward once towards Tony. “C-Can I have a hug, d-dad?” He asked hesitantly, opening his arms a little. He didn’t want to be rude and hug Tony out of the blue. Some people didn’t like hugs after all. Even if Izuku really did.

Tony’s expression softened when Izuku asked for a hug. He wasn’t normally a super touchy person (unless he was drunk), but who could resist their own child looking like that? Well, besides Howard Stark, anyway. He blinked, trying to will that thought away. He wasn’t his father. That’s why he was  _ here _ . He nodded, spreading his arms so Izuku could hug him. “Sure you can, kid.”

Izuku smiled and quickly set his All Might figure down so he could hug Tony. He practically threw himself into Tony’s arms now that he had permission and gently squeezed him. It didn’t take very long before quiet sniffles were heard from Izuku, as he was so happy that his dad finally came to see him that he started to cry. Not sad tears, but happy tears.

Tony blinked at how easily Izuku responded with a hug. He wrapped his arms around Izuku, hugging him back, but shooting Inko a panicked look when the tears started. What was going on? Had he done something wrong? Why was the kid crying? What was he supposed to do now?

“It’s okay.” Inko mouthed, gesturing for Tony to relax. “He’s happy.”

Izuku pulled back slightly to rub his eyes before squeezing Tony gently again with a soft smile. “Sorry. Happy tears.” Izuku explained quietly. “Thanks for coming to see me, dad.” He said, gently nuzzling Tony.

Tony hesitated for a minute, before finally relaxing. “Happy tears are good tears.” Tony decided, mussing Izuku’s hair. “Sure, kiddo.” He responded, smiling. He didn’t add anything about how he should have visited sooner, no matter how true it was. “So, I’m  _ told _ someone’s birthday is coming up, is that right?”

Izuku nodded with a grin. “Yeah! I’m really excited. Kacchan’s probably going to sleep over, and mom said she’s gonna make my favorite.” He explained. 

Inko laughed, “Kaede sleeps over almost every night anyway, but yes, I’m going to try and make it special. And not just because we’ll eat Katsudon.”

Tony laughed, removing a watch from his left wrist. “Kaede?” He asked curiously. “Is that your friend, Izuku?” He held out the watch. “Hold out your arm, kiddo.” He instructed, adjusting his grip on the watch.

Izuku nodded and held out his arm without much thought. “Mhm! Kacchan’s my best friend. We’re gonna get married and be together for _ ever _ .” He said cheerfully.

Inko laughed, “Well that’s one way to tell your father you got engaged.” She said, amused.

Tony raised an eyebrow. “Engaged? Do you even know what that means?” He asked, amused. He fixed the watch onto Izuku’s wrist, and the band adjusted itself to fit him snugly. “Happy birthday, Izuku.” He said softly. “This is a smartwatch. It’s created by my company, Stark Industries. You can play games on it, take notes, and do a whole bunch of things. It’s a bit different than the normal ones SI makes, though. It’s got my… what do you call yourself, J?”

A dry, male, British voice spoke from the watch. “I believe Miss Potts calls me your minder, Sir.”

“Of course she does.” Tony snorted. “Izuku, this is JARVIS. J, the adorable little face staring at the watch is Izuku. My son.”

“Yeah! It’s a promise we're gonna get married so we’re together forever.” Izuku replied confidently, lifting up the ring on his necklace with a smile. “The ring Kacchan got me is too small now… but we’re gonna get real ones when we’re older that fit. I gotta stop growing first.”

He gasped quietly, his eyes widening when the band adjusted itself to fit him. He brought it close to look at it, moving carefully like he thought he might break it. “Th-Thank you.” He stammered, before letting out a small ‘eep’ in surprise when JARVIS spoke. “Um… H-Hi Jarvis. Nice to meet you.” He said hesitantly.

Inko raised an eyebrow, “I… hope that watch isn’t too breakable. You’re giving it to a six year old Tony. He’s going to end up dropping it even if he’s careful. Or spilling something on it.”

Tony eyed the ring with a grin. “A kid who knows what he wants already. A good sign.” He noted. He grinned at Izuku. “JARVIS is my.. Assistant. You can talk to him any time you like. He can pass on messages to me, and even connect you right to me if you need to talk to me.” Tony explained. “Don’t worry about breaking it, either. It’s made of a chrome-titanium alloy, and could withstand almost anything a pair of six year olds could throw at it. Unless your friend has a corrosion quirk, I think you’ll be fine. It’s sturdy.”

JARVIS waited until Tony was done explaining. “I have no doubt the Young Sir and I will get along quite well.” If a bodiless AI could smile, Tony had no doubts J would be.

“Maybe so, just mind the sass, J. Kids are sponges, and we don’t need this one picking up on any of that.” He ruffled Izuku’s hair.

“I shall endeavor, Sir.”

“No… Kacchan has an explosion quirk. Uncle Masaru is the one with a corrosive quirk.” Izuku replied simply. “I’ll be careful though.” He smiled down at the watch before looking up at Tony again. “I can really send messages to you through Jarvis, though?” He bit his lip, frowning for a moment, “And that’s okay? I don’t want to be annoying. People say I talk too much.”

Inko came over and gently ran her fingers though Izuku’s hair. “You’re not annoying Izuku. You like to talk about things you are interested in, but that doesn’t make you annoying. People who say that are just trying to be mean.”

Tony grinned. “An explosion quirk, eh? Sounds interesting.” He ruffled Izuku’s hair fondly. “You can send messages any time you like. I promise you won’t annoy me.” He replied seriously. “If I’m working on something, J will let you know and pass it on when I’m free, and I’ll respond then.”

Izuku smiled gently and nodded, leaning a bit into his father’s hand.”Okay dad. And yeah it’s really cool. Kacchan sweats nitroglycerin from their hands and can ignite it at will. It makes it a little dangerous ‘cause it’s nitroglycerin and can make people sick or go off at any moment if Kacchan doesn’t spark off. But Kacchan’s really careful with it and is gonna practice and get really strong with it and be a awesome hero one day.” He rambled excitedly.

Tony was mildly impressed that a pair of 6-year-olds knew so much about nitroglycerin, but it was understandable if the girl’s quirk involved sweating the substance. He smiled at the boy. “And what about you? Are you going to be a hero along with her?” He asked. Even without a quirk, there were support items that could assist him, as long as he was willing to work for it. Tony saw no reason why his son couldn’t use those, the same way he’d used tools all his life to build things.

Izuku hesitated to answer, but nodded after a moment. “Yeah. I want to be. I’m gonna try really hard. E-Even though I’m um… q-quirkless.” He replied, fidgeting with the ring around his neck. 

Tony ruffled his hair. “Hey. Quirk or no quirk, you can do whatever you put your mind to. Between support items and Stark tech, as long as you put 110% effort into it, I don’t see why you can’t be. Just make sure you take all necessary safety precautions so you don’t worry your mother too much.” He reassured his son. His father’s words and pride in their family name rang in his head. He didn’t repeat any of that to Izuku.

Izuku looked up to Tony wide eyed, gasping softly before tears came to his eyes again. He moved forward quickly and buried his face into Tony’s chest, nodding. Tony thought he could do it. His dad  _ believed in him _ . He tried to say thank you, to tell his dad he’d do his best, but it just came out as a bunch of gibberish as he cried once again.

Tony was, once again, unsure what to do. He assumed they were happy tears again, but hell. Was the kid so affected by praise? Though… that sounded like him, he had to admit. He rubbed the kid’s back, uncertain if that was what he should be doing. He had no idea how this ‘parenting’ thing worked, after all.

Inko had a bit of a sad smile on her face seeing Izuku's reaction, though she supposed it made sense. Even if it hadn't been specifically about him being a hero, getting praise and encouragement from the person he had been wanting to meet for so long would do that.

Izuku didn't take too long to calm down, relaxing easily into his father's arms despite this being their first meeting. He pulled back slightly to rub his eyes and nose again before tilting his head curiously at Tony's chest, having noticed something odd when he hugged him this time. He gently placed a hand over where, unbeknownst to him, was the arc reactor that now kept his father alive and felt the faint hum of energy from it.

Tony was glad when he calmed himself down. Crying  _ anyone _ had never been his strong suit, hell he freaked out when  _ Pepper _ did it (although it was extremely difficult to make  _ her _ cry so that was usually a whole different can of worms). A kid crying because of something he said was historically a recipe for disaster, so. Crisis averted? Though when the kid noticed his arc reactor, that was an entirely  _ new _ source of panic. How do you explain ‘oh yeah that powers an electromagnet that keeps me from dying slowly’ to a  _ kid _ ? You didn’t, that’s how.

Izuku hummed quietly, mumbling quietly and quickly to himself as he rested his hand on the arc reactor. He paused and blinked up at Tony innocently. "What's that powering?" He asked, quickly figuring out whatever it was, was creating energy. Though he didn't quite know what for. Though he assumed something in his father's chest based on where it was, which he had mumbled about as much. He liked seeing support items and other tech heroes used to help themselves, and immediately assumed this was one.

Tony paled slightly at the question. It was innocent enough, but  _ literally no one but Rhodey and Pepper knew what it was _ . That was kinda done on purpose. He took a breath. “I’ll tell you, but you can’t tell  _ anyone _ , okay? Not even your friend.” He said seriously. He waited for Izuku to promise before pressing his shirt against his chest so Izuku could see the faint blue light. “It’s called a miniaturized arc reactor. It’s kinda like a fancy pacemaker. Do you know what a pacemaker is?”

Izuku promised with a small nod not to tell anyone and looked at the blue light in fascination. "Pacemaker…" He repeated, thinking, before looking back towards Inko, "That's a medical thing right?"

"Yes, it helps keep someone's heart beating like it's supposed to." Inko answered, looking a bit worried for Tony.

Izuku nodded and looked back towards the arc reactor, "So it's a support item to help you? That's cool!" He grinned at his dad, "Makes you like a real hero."

Tony snorted at Izuku’s comparison. “I guess you could say that.” He replied, glad that seemed to be the end of Izuku’s questions as he released his shirt.  _ Damn _ his kid was smart. He was impressed despite himself, having caught some of Izuku’s muttering.

Izuku took a step back to pick up his toy and held it to his chest. He thought for a moment, looking down at his new watch and towards where the arc reactor was. He hummed, "Did your company make that? So they make support items too?" He asked, not having really heard of Tony's company outside of the news. It hadn't really ever come up when he heard about where other heroes got their support items, but he guessed that maybe heroes in Japan just didn't use their tech much.

Okay. Downside of smart kid.  _ Difficult questions _ . Tony made a slight face, trying to figure out how to explain that one. After a minute, he thought he might have it. “Sort of. For a long time, we specialized in equipment to keep the United States military safer. We’re… branching out a bit, so we’ll see what happens, I guess.” He offered. 

Izuku wrinkled his nose up slightly but nodded after a moment. "Okay." He hummed looking down at his watch, inspecting it a little closer. "I like this… and the arc… reactor… is cool too. You make cool stuff." He decided.

Inko thought for a moment before saying, "I've seen you drawing some cool designs too. Do you want to show him your notebook?"

Izuku's face lit up slightly at the idea, "Yeah! Um… if you want to see it." He said. "You… won't be able to read it... Looks like gibberish. I can read my notes to you though?"

Tony blinked. “Looks like gibberish, huh? Sure, if you want to show me.” He offered, obviously interested. Designs at his age might not necessarily be practical, but that could be improved upon. The best way to do so was by getting feedback on them.

Izuku nodded and ran up to his room to get his notebook, taking his action figure with him so he could put it back in it's spot.

Inko laughed slightly, "It looks like gibberish because I let him watch a spy movie  _ once  _ and he got really interested in ciphers and codes. I'm pretty sure he made one up and he uses it in all his non-school writing now."

Izuku came bounding back downstairs a minute later and held up his notebook for Tony to look at. It was obviously well used, and almost full by the look of it.

Tony looked impressed once again. “Coming up with a working cipher at his age is pretty impressive.” He smiled softly at Izuku coming back down the stairs. “Someone’s been keeping busy, I see. Running out of room, there.”

"That it is. He's a really smart child." Inko agreed. 

Izuku giggled slightly and nodded. "I've been filling it up quick. Kacchan said they were gonna get me a new one that's bigger." He opened it, flipping through the first few pages that had notes in heroes' quirks (mainly All Might) before he got to more of the designs. Things ranging from gauntlets that supposedly were supposed to make enhancement quirks punching even stronger, to goggles that let you see behind you, to more extravagant ideas akin to jetpacks and grappling hooks that seemed cool in theory but maybe weren't the most practical. 

All of the designs were based with a particular pro hero, or several in mind. Though in the section with notes on his best friend, there were some ideas in there too.

Tony flipped through the notebook, looking at some of the designs. “Hey kid, these are some da-darn good designs.” He caught himself quickly. “I swear, maybe I oughta let you loose in my workshop, kid. With supervision, of course.” He ruffled Izuku’s hair. “I’d like to see what you can come up with from these designs.”

Izuku grinned brightly at his father. "Sounds fun!" He replied honestly, leaning into Tony's hand slightly. "I'm happy you like them."

Tony grinned at Izuku’s reaction. Of course, this was probably the easy part of parenting, but Izuku seemed like a difficult child to upset.

Izuku giggled again before leaning into Tony's hand a bit more. "Love you, dad." He said happily, earning a quiet 'aww' and a smile from Inko behind him.

Tony couldn’t help but smile at that. Here was opportunity #1 to be a better father than Howard. “Love you too, kid.” He answered. And really, how could he  _ not _ ? Izuku was such a sweet kid, and clearly just wanted approval from people he cared about, even the father he’d just met. The kid had a big heart, and Tony knew people would try to take advantage of that, but that was a lesson for later.

His attention was grabbed by a knock on the door. Tony glanced over at Inko, his eyebrow raised.

"Oh! I think Masaru and Kaede are here." Inko said quickly, starting to head for the door. "If you want to stick around to eat, feel free Tony, but if you'd rather not Izuku knows where the back door is if you want to go that way." 

Izuku's grin somehow got even brighter hearing his dad say I love you back. He blinked at the knock and looked towards the door before looking back up at Tony. "Do you want to meet, Kacchan? Or do you need to go bye bye again."

Tony hummed. “I think I can stick around for a while. After all you’ve told me I’m rather interested to meet this friend of yours.” He responded. “This ‘Kacchan’ sounds like a pretty interesting person.” He noted, releasing Izuku and standing so he could greet his friend.

Izuku nodded quickly before scampering off after his mom to go greet his best friend. He bounced excitedly in place as his mom went to open the door for Masaru and Kaede and gestured them inside.

The second the door opened, Bakugou Kaede glomped her best friend. She grinned brightly, sure he’d love the presents she got him. One her dad knew about, and one he probably didn’t, hidden in the bottom of the box. She hugged him tightly. “Happy Birthday!” She squeaked at him.

Masaru snorted, stepping inside, holding the neatly wrapped box for his daughter. He rolled his eyes fondly at her exuberance. “Let him breathe, Kaede-chan.” He looked up and spotted Tony, before glancing over to Inko with a raised eyebrow. “Are we… interrupting anything?” He teased.

Kaede made a face, backing off so Izuku could breathe. “Sorryyyyy.” She offered.

Izuku giggled, staggering back slightly due to being glomped by Kaede. "Thank you, Kacchan. It's okay."

Inko rolled her eyes at Masaru. "No, you're not." She said before closing the door and starting to walk back towards the kitchen. "I need to go finish making the food. You know your way around, it shouldn't take long for me to finish."

Kaede beamed, looking up at Masaru. “Presents soon, right?”

Masaru snorted. “After dinner, Kaede-chan. Why don’t you two go up and play until then?”

Kaede nodded, looking back at Izuku. “What’cha wanna play?” She asked, before catching sight of the man her dad had seen. “Who’s that?”

Izuku nodded and went to answer on what he wanted to play before looking back towards his dad. "Oh! That's…" He hesitated a moment, unsure if he was allowed to even tell his best friend about his dad. "Tony." He settled on after a moment before looking back at Katsuki. He lifted up his wrist to show his new watch off, "He got me this! It's really cool. I haven't tried it much yet though… um… have to be careful though." Izuku explained, "Don't want to break it. So, spark off before touching, please?" He requested.

Kaede looked confused, but Masaru recognized him, if the amused expression on his face was anything to go by. “It’s been a while.” He noted, moving into the other room.

Tony snorted. “Yeah it has.” He agreed. He glanced over at Kaede, then back to Masaru. “I see you married the pretty blonde with the bad temper.” He joked.

Masaru let out a louder-than-usual laugh at that. “Yeah, I did.” He agreed. “That’s my daughter, Kaede. Her mother… couldn’t get away. Work.”

Tony snorted. He remembered the honestly rather unpleasant woman well enough. Hearing Izuku’s hesitation, he smiled slightly. “You can tell her, kid.”

Kaede blinked. Clearly her dad knew this ‘Tony’ person, so he couldn’t be too bad. She looked at the watch, before sticking her hands behind herself to spark off as requested. “What can it do?”

"It's a smartwatch apparently? He said I can play games, take notes, and a whole bunch of other stuff with it." Izuku explained. "Oh! And Jarvis, them too. Can't forget them. It's  _ super  _ cool. It even adjusted to my wrist by itself." He looked back at Tony and smiled slightly before turning back and leaning in to whisper to Katsuki.

"It's a secret. But, Kacchan, Tony is my  _ dad." _ He whispered excitedly, "He came to visit,  _ and _ brought a present."

Kaede blinked at the watch. “Jarvis…?” She questioned, unsure who or what that was.

“Yes, miss? I am JARVIS.” he answered from the watch.

Kaede nearly fell backwards. “The watch can talk?”

JARVIS snorted, “I can speak through the watch, yes.”

Kaede grinned. “That’s so cool!” At Izuku’s excited whisper, her eyes went wide. “Your  _ dad _ ? Really? Cool!” She grinned. “I would hope he’d’ve brought something cool for you on your  _ birthday _ .”

"Just him coming would have been a cool present too." Izuku countered easily. "Do you wanna try to figure out how the watch works with me till dinner? Or go play heroes?" He asked. He looked down at his watch, "Can you help me learn how the watch works too Jarvis?"

JARVIS hummed. “I  _ could _ .” He noted dryly. He wasn’t about to sass a six-year-old like he would said child’s father, but Tony had said  _ mind _ the sass, not  _ refrain _ .

Kaede grinned. “I’m kinda curious about what it can do, too.” She admitted. She picked up on the sass and snorted.

Masaru and Tony kept talking, partially paying attention to the kids. Masaru trusting them to mind themselves, and Tony trusting JARVIS to alert him if they were needed.

Izuku blinked. "Oh, sorry, you can probably do that really easy, huh?" He said sheepishly. He nodded to Kaede and turned to head up the steps to his room until dinner. "Can um…" He paused, humming quietly before shaking his head. "Nevermind. Is there… stuff you'd like me not to ask you?" He tried.

Kaede followed him, curious about the watch. “What kind of games can you play? It’s such a small surface.” She noted.

JARVIS took a moment before answering. “Naturally, I cannot answer any questions about potentially sensitive information, such as about Sir’s company or designs, or questions that are better suited for a parent to answer. Those are the main directives I was given.” He answered.

"Oh, okay! That's okay." Izuku replied before pausing for a moment, "Directives… um… those are like instructions right?" He asked, not entirely familiar with the word. He looked at Kaede and then back at the watch, tapping it once and bringing it to the home screen. "I'm not sure…" He said before blinking and tilting his head at one of the icons, "Is that… Galaga..?"

"Indeed they are." JARVIS confirmed. There was a distinctly amused tone to his voice the next time he spoke. "Yes it is. Sir is… rather fond of older games."

Kaede blinked. "Galaga might be difficult on that small screen."

JARVIS had a solution for that too, popping up a holographic display that was significantly larger than the screen of the watch.

Izuku gasped, " _ Woah! _ That's so cool!" He said as he made it to his distinctly All Might themed room and went over to sit on his bed, scooting aside so that Kaede could sit with him. He kicked his feet a bit. "That solves the tiny screen problem." He decided. He smiled happily, "Galaga is fun. They have it at the arcade me and Kacchan go to. Also a newer version which usually has a line? But the classic versions don't a lot of the time and they're just as fun."

"Oh, um, also… is there anything other than what's in your directives you don't want me to ask? Or things you don't want me to do?" Izuku asked. "I um… wanna be friends, so I don't wanna upset you."

JARVIS was quiet for a moment, considering Izuku's question. "I'm… not sure." He finally said. "Why don't we make a deal, Young Sir. If I think of anything, I'll tell you."

Kaede hopped up on the bed next to Izuku. This watch, and the person inside it, were  _ almost _ fascinating enough to make up for six years of his dad  _ not being around _ . She was still irritated about that, because goodness knew Izuku wouldn't be. "Did he at least give a good reason?" She asked.

Izuku nodded. "Okay, Jarvis. Deal. He replied with a smile. He turned to Kaede confused. "Did he… oh, you mean my dad. Um…" He thought for a moment. "I know why it's secret. It's so me and momma stay safe. So villains can't try to hurt us to get at him because there's some people who'd want to do that I guess? He was on the news when he went missing, so I'm pretty sure he's important…" He answered before shrugging, "He didn't tell me why he's been gone so long. Maybe they just wanted me to be old enough to keep a secret first?" He offered.

Kaede frowned. Even she couldn't argue with that logic. Well. She  _ could _ . The only thing about that was that Izuku was touchy about his dad. She'd learned  _ that _ the hard way. Accepting his answer for now, she groaned. "I guess that makes sense."

Izuku leaned against Kaede a bit, "Relax, Kacchan." He said gently. "He's here now and that's all I really care about. Plus, he said I can send him messages whenever I want through Jarvis now." He rested his head against Kaede, "I know you're still gonna be upset with him, but be nice? For me?" He requested.

Kaede frowned at Izuku. "You're too nice, you know that?" She grumbled, wrapping her arms around her best friend. "Lucky you have me to protect you." She decided. "Fine, I'll be nice. But if he makes you cry I'll kick his ass."

Izuku sighed, "Alright. But happy tears don't count. He did that twice already." He bit his lip before pulling away and turning to face Kaede fully. "He… He told me I can be a  _ hero _ Kacchan. Even without a quirk! As long as I work hard and be careful he thinks with a little extra help from support items I'd be able to do fine!"

JARVIS noted the threat against Tony, but considering the nature of the threat, who it came from, and why it was said, opted to ignore it as something that Sir would only bring upon himself. It was good to see that Young Sir’s friend was so protective.

Kaede blinked, studying Izuku for a minute. “Good, he  _ is _ smart.” She decided. “Or, at least, not as dumb as I thought he might be.” She ruffled Izuku’s hair, a bit more roughly than Tony had. “Of course you can. You just gotta work for it.”

Izuku giggled slightly. "I'd think he'd have to be smart to really run his company that makes stuff like this watch." He gave Katsuki a small, slightly watery smile,"Y-You think so too Kacchan?" He rubbed the tears out of his eyes before they even had a chance to fall and nodded. "I'm gonna work super hard. That way we can fight villains together and save people."

Kaede pulled Izuku into a hug, smiling slightly herself. “You’d better. I can’t think of anyone better to team up with. Not even All Might!” She declared. “We’re gonna be the  _ best _ hero team  _ ever _ !” She informed him, as sure of that as she was anything else she said. “So what other games can we play on that watch?”

"Yeah. Best hero team  _ ever." _ Izuku agreed, returning the hug. He hummed and looked down at the watch, tapping through the interface, and figuring out pretty quick how to maneuver through it. "Hm… okay. There's Asteroids on here so another arcade game… Pac-Man too." He tilted his head, "A  _ tamagotchi  _ game. That's cool. Um… there's a version of Temple Run… This one looks like a choose your own adventure… one of those word puzzle games… There's a  _ lot _ of options on here."

Kaede looked at the watch face upside down. “Those sound fun.” She looked at the different games. “That takes a lot of our reason to go to the arcade!” She noted. “Which do you wanna play?” she asked, leaving the choice up to Izuku.

Izuku hummed looking through all the options. "I… wanna try Galaga on this." He decided eventually. Finding out his dad liked it was a big factor, but he genuinely liked the game too. He tapped on it to open the game and let JARVIS put the holographic screen back up. He did one attempt, finding that it was definitely different playing on the watch instead of with a joystick and buttons, before letting Kaede have a turn after she sparked off.

Kaede made sure to spark off again before trying to interact with the watch. She hadn’t sweat much since she last had, but better safe than sorry. She took a turn at the game, managing to match Izuku’s score before dying. “Your turn!” She declared

Izuku grinned and took another turn. After a little bit of back and forth with them taking turns playing, he heard Inko call them back downstairs for dinner. As he was in the middle of finishing his turn he got up and carefully made his way downstairs while playing.

Inko smiled and shook her head slightly seeing Izuku engrossed in the game. "Did you wash your hands yet, Izu?"

Izuku finished his turn and looked up at Inko to shake his head. "Not yet." He replied before looking at Tony, "Do I need to take it off to wash?" He asked him, "Didn't know if water would hurt it."

Tony looked over at the kids as they came downstairs. At Izuku’s question, he thought for a second, before nodding. “Water shouldn’t hurt it, but better safe than sorry. At least until you get used to it.”

Once they were downstairs, Kaede skipped off to the bathroom to wash her hands while Izuku asked his question. That way, she’d be done by the time he got there, and they wouldn’t need to try to wash at the same time. She hurried over to where her dad was waiting, smiling widely. She looked over at Tony briefly, studying him.

Tony looked over at where the blonde girl was studying him. She had a very serious look on her face, and it was unsettlingly like she was staring right into his soul. He only knew one other person with a look like that, and all he could think was he hoped this girl never had cause to meet Charles Xavier.

Izuku nodded and went off to the bathroom to wash his hands, taking his watch off with instructions from JARVIS before washing his hands. Once that was done he put the watch back on, still amazed by how it adjusted itself, and came back into the room to eat. 

Inko set the bowls of food down, ruffling Izuku's hair as she passed. "Happy Birthday, Izuku."

"Thank you mama." He replied, leaning slightly into her touch before she pulled away. Izuku grabbed his chopsticks so he could start eating, snickering slightly at the look Kaede was giving his dad before he looked at Tony. "Have you had Katsudon before, Dad?" He asked, before taking a bite of his and humming happily.

Kaede hopped up into a seat, grabbing her chopsticks. “Katsudon again, ‘Zuku?” She teased, grinning at him. She mumbled ‘itadakimasu’ before digging into her food.

Tony took an empty seat by Izuku, waiting until the other two had sat down, and pulling out Inko’s chair for her with a smile. He picked up a pair of chopsticks, thankful that he had had Chinese takeout enough that he could use them fairly easily. “Can’t say I have, no. Is it your favorite?” He asked. He knew JARVIS would be paying attention to the answer.

Izuku nodded quickly and swallowed what he had in his mouth before saying, "Yeah! It's my favorite 'cause it's  _ really _ yummy. We don't get to eat it too often though, mostly for special days." He said, sticking his tongue out slightly at Kaede.

"Once you're older I'll have to teach you how to make it. As long as you grow out of setting fires when you're near the stove that is." Inko teased.

Kaede grinned at Izuku across the table. “Don’t worry, ‘Zuku. I’ll learn to make it for you for when we get married.” She told him, with all the seriousness a six-year-old could have at saying such a thing. “Will you teach me to make it, Aunty?”

Tony was  _ so very glad _ he didn’t have anything in his mouth when she said that, because he could practically guarantee whatever it was would have been spat out at that when he laughed. “I’m sure you two will make a fine couple someday,” he teased them.

Kaede grinned brightly, her impression of the man vastly improved from the start of the evening.

"Of course, Kaede." Inko replied with a small laugh.

Izuku grinned back at Kaede and nodded, "Okay, Kacchan. I still wanna try to learn too though. I can help that way." He turned his smile towards Tony and giggled, "Yeah!" He agreed cheerfully before happily digging into his meal once again.

Kaede grinned, remembering something her dad had said to her mom at one point. “The one who doesn’t cook does dishes. Guess you’ll be on permant-ent dish duty, ‘Zuku.” Kaede offered, between bites.

This time, it was Masaru’s turn to snort, knowing exactly where she’d picked that up from.

"Oh, okay." Izuku agreed easily. He helped his mom with dishes when he could already anyway. That idea didn't bother him much.

Inko smiled, amused. "It's never to early to discuss those arrangements I suppose." She looked at Izuku's bowl, "I made extra, so if you want more just let me know Izu. Once you're full we'll do presents."

Izuku nodded and continued to eat, not eating any faster even though he wanted to get to his presents since he wanted to enjoy his food.

Kaede kicked her feet happily while she ate, smiling brightly. Izuku was gonna love his presents, she just knew it.

Tony snorted at both kids, vaguely amused still. He wondered if this was how childhood sweethearts worked. He guessed he’d never know, considering he didn’t have one. Though, it was cute to watch. Kaede obviously wore the pants in their relationship, but his kid seemed alright with that. That was fine by him. They did remind him of him and Rhodey, though, which was kind of funny.

Izuku, after getting seconds, pushed his bowl forward to declare he was done eating. He rested his hands in his lap and patiently waited for everyone else to be finished so he could open presents, kicking his feet all the while.

Kaede finished her dinner shortly after. She turned to Masaru, wiggling in her chair. “Daaaaaad, can we do presents now? Please? Pleasepleaseplease???” She asked.

Masaru gave her a look over his glasses as he ate his own dinner. She subsided slightly, but continued to wiggle excitedly.

Izuku giggled at Kaede. "We gotta let everyone finish their food Kacchan." 

Inko stood after finishing her meal, starting to collect bowls so the table was cleared. "Shouldn't be too long. Just wait patiently and we'll get to it." She said to Kaede. As Inko leaned over to grab Izuku's dish she gently brushed some crumbs off around Izuku's mouth before patting him gently on the head. After grabbing those few dishes she went and put them in the sink to be cleaned later.

Kaede gathered hers and her dad’s dishes when he was done, walking them over to Inko and holding them up. “Here, Aunty!” She said happily. Masaru watched, amused.

Tony brought his own dishes to the sink, setting them in. He nudged her shoulder slightly, grinning. “I gotta admit, I’m almost jealous of the kid, getting to eat your cooking every day.” He teased.

"Thank you, Kaede." Inko replied, taking the dishes from her. She rolled her eyes at Tony. "Almost?" She teased back, "Just keep visiting and that'll solve that problem. Some warning would be nice though in the future."

Kaede rolled her eyes at the pair of adults. Moms and dads flirting was how it was supposed to go, wasn’t it? She continued over to where Izuku was waiting.

Tony grinned. “Almost. I think JARVIS has gotten used to my takeout orders by now.” He grinned. “Leaving it open-ended like that… so as long as I gave you a warning I could visit whenever, is what I’m hearing?”

"Yes, that's what you're hearing." Inko said, offering a small smile. "I understand you're a busy man, but you seem to be trying, so as long as you give me a bit of warning to make sure nothing else is going on you can come by. Izuku would love that."

Tony offered a small, mildly sarcastic smile in response. “At least until you get sick of me, I suppose.” He kept his tone light so he could brush it off as a joke, but he was used to that enough that it wouldn’t surprise him, either. People tended to want him around for his money or his influence, and not much more.

Inko laughed slightly, "Well, as long as you keep making Izuku happy I doubt that will happen." She hummed, "Let's get back to Izuku for presents. If Kaede has to wait much longer she might explode. Possibly literally." She joked.

Tony grinned. Kaede was sounding more and more like Rhodey the first time he’d gone home with his friend for Christmas. “Well, can’t have that, now can we?” He agreed, before heading into the other room.

Inko followed Tony out after pulling a small box out from its hiding place in one of the kitchen cabinets. She set the box on the table and looked towards Kaede and Izuku. "Alright, we can do presents now. Kaede, why don't you give Izuku yours first?" She suggested.

Kaede grinned widely, bevfor retrieving her gift from her father and offering it to Izuku. She was clearly  _ attempting _ to sit still, but it wasn’t really working. She was beaming hugely anyway. She couldn’t wait to see Izuku’s face.

Izuku pulled the box into his lap and tore into the paper with a smile. He opened it up, his smile brightening slightly at what he saw. He pulled the gift out of the box, holding it up for his mom to see before holding it to his chest happily. "A All Might notebook!" He cheered, "Thank you, Kacchan!" He said happily.

He looked back down at the box and tilted his head seeing one more thing in the box. He carefully set the notebook to the side to pull the other object out to reveal a All Might themed dress. Izuku giggled slightly, still grinning, " _ Thaaank you." _

Kaede grinned at Izuku’s reactions. The notebook was a sure hit, but she’d been less sure about the dress, mostly just wanting to get rid of it, since she knew she’d never wear the thing. Izuku might, though, or at least, that was her logic.

Tony raised an eyebrow at the dress, confused. It didn’t seem to be a mean joke, and Izuku definitely seemed happy (although that could have more to do with the theme), but… why a dress?

"This'll be good for dress up." Izuku decided. He looked over at Inko. "Can I go try it on before I open yours?"

Inko blinked at the dress. She knew Izuku liked wearing them on occasion when him and Kaede switched clothes for dress up, but she wasn't expecting him to get one of his own for a gift. She glanced at Masaru questioningly before looking back at Izuku and nodding. "Sure, Izu. I can wait. Go try on your gift."

Izuku grinned and took the dress as he ran off to the bathroom to change.

Masaru looked from the dress- which he knew Kaede’s mother had gotten for her-, to Kaede, then back to the dress. He caught Inko’s look and shrugged in return, nodding at his child, who was wearing a very satisfied smirk at Izuku rushing off to change. Kaede was certainly a sneaky child. Masaru wasn’t sure when she’d snuck that in there, unless she’d undone the wrapping paper to do so.

Kaede kicked her feet happily, waiting for her friend to come back. He liked her dresses more than she did, why  _ not _ give him one of them? He’d get more use out of it than she did.

Izuku came out of the bathroom a minute later, changed into the All Might dress that was similar in design to Wonder Woman's outfit. He giggled and did a small spin as he entered, "It fits!" He informed them with a grin. 

"It sure does. Looks cute on you Izuku." Inko said with a small smile. She held out the box she had wrapped for Izuku to take which he sat down with and immediately started to unwrap.

Kaede grinned at how Izuku looked in it. She was happy enough to realize that Izuku really liked it, and beamed at him doing a twirl. It really did look good on him.

Tony was still confused, but at this point, Izuku clearly liked it, so he wasn’t about to say anything. He wasn’t Howard, about to scold his son for liking feminine things. It wasn’t hurting anyone, after all.

Izuku gasped gently once he'd gotten the present from Inko open. "Is… Mom you got me the-" He cut himself off with a squeal as he stood to give his mom a big hug.

Inko laughed slightly, "The limited edition All Might jacket, yes. They're planning on changing it every year, so this one is only available for right now. It's going to be way too big for you right now, but I know how much you like collectables and didn't want you to miss the first in the set."

" _ Thank you thank you thank you." _ Izuku repeated over and over again, knowing just how expensive that particular collectable jacket had been. He normally didn't get big stuff like that. 

Tony couldn’t help but make the connection between Izuku’s admiration of this All Might and his own if Captain America, when all he had were stories from Aunt Peggy and his dad. This, though, he mentally promised himself he would do whatever he could to prevent Izuku’s admiration from turning as bitter as his own had. Izuku was too sweet of a child to go through that.

Kaede eyed the jacket and the dress, before grinning. “You should try it on,’Zuku! They might match!” She suggested, happy for her friend getting such a cool present.

Izuku nodded quickly and went over to try on the jacket. Inko saying it was 'too big' was almost an understatement considering the fact that he was practically  _ drowning  _ in it. Which, considering Inko had gotten an extra large to be safe, made sense. 

The hood with the antennae like hair on top fell in front of his eyes and he pushed it up with another small laugh. He was extremely happy with all the gifts he'd gotten. He looked towards Tony with a grin, trying to gauge his opinion on what he'd gotten.

Tony’s smile widened slightly when Izuku looked over at him. “You’ll grow into it eventually, kid.” He teased. “I take it you like All Might, huh?” He looked amused.

Izuku nodded quickly. "All Might is the  _ best.  _ He always saves people with a smile and as the number one hero and Symbol of Peace just him  _ existing  _ makes less villains appear. He's  _ awesome. _ " He explained excitedly. "His quirk let's him punch hard enough to change the  _ weather,  _ Dad! The  _ weather!" _

Tony did some quick mental calculations to determine just how fast a person would have to punch to accomplish that, before deciding that that, indeed, was something to be impressed over. “Can he now?” Tony hummed in over-exaggerated consideration. “I guess that is pretty cool.” He’d heard the moniker ‘Symbol of Peace’ but he’d also learned better than to put too much stock in titles and propaganda, something Izuku hadn’t yet. How the hero rankings were decided was a well-kept secret by the shadowy ‘Hero Commission’, which… wasn’t something Tony was fond of. Any group that went through that much trouble to hide information about themselves and how they worked had likely run out of closet space for all of those skeletons a  _ while _ ago. Safe to say, Tony didn’t trust organizations like that as far as he could blast them with the Mark II.

"In his debut video he saved over a hundred people too!" Izuku added, "He comes up into view carrying more people and he does his laugh like…" He took a breath before doing his best impression of All Might's laugh, "Then, then he says, 'Fear not citizens! Why you ask? Because I am here!'" He jumped in place excitedly, loving that he got to tell someone who didn't already know about All Might. "He's just so  _ cool _ saving people all the time and he seems super nice and amazing. He works with Sir Nighteye right now who is his sidekick. His quirk is a big mystery but I think it has to do with prediction? So All Might knows where he needs to be and what he has to do. They make a  _ super  _ cool team. When he was in the states he worked with someone called David Shield too! He makes all his costumes now. But he also works on I-Island so he makes a bunch of super cool support items and other things. All Might doesn't use support items though." He rambled.

Tony listened with a small grin, which broadened when Izuku mentioned David Shield. “So you know about David, huh?” He asked, amused. He listened to the rest of Izuku’s ramble with fond amusement. “....kid, how many breaths did it take you to get all that out?”

Izuku smiled sheepishly, "Um… like three?" He answered hesitantly, before his eyes widened slightly, "Wait, you know about David Shield? How do you know about him?" He asked quickly, "You haven't heard all this about All Might, so it's not 'cause of that."

Tony snorted. “Three. Impressive.” He remarked. “Yeah, I know David. I’ve worked with him a couple of times on various projects. He’s a good guy.” He made a face. “His employer could stand to loosen up a touch, but I don’t suppose I can blame them too much.”

"You've  _ worked with him!?"  _ Izuku squealed, "That's so  _ cool, Dad!" _

Tony couldn’t help but snicker. “Sure have. Maybe I can introduce you to him next time. Let you two fanboy over your favorite hero together.” He offered, mostly serious.

Izuku gasped, " _ Really?  _ That'd be… that'd be so  _ cool!"  _ He cheered excitedly, moving quickly to hug Tony even just at the idea that he'd do that for him. "You're the best Dad  _ ever." _

Tony blinked, wrapping his arms around Izuku. Something so simple got him that title? Though, he supposed introducing his son to someone working on  _ I-Island _ wasn’t exactly  _ simple _ , by most standards. Still, he was able to do it, so why wouldn’t he? He grinned. “It might take a while to arrange, but sure, why not.”

Izuku hummed happily with a big grin on his face as he hugged Tony. "That's okay. Even just saying you want to do that is  _ super  _ nice." He said, knowing sometimes stuff happened and plans got cancelled even if it was disappointing. But it was the thought that counted from what he had learned.

Tony shot Inko another confused look. How on Earth was this child so easy to please that offering to introduce him to someone he’d worked with made him  _ this happy _ ? Was this normal for small children?

Kaede noticed his confusion and smirked. Clearly, adults  _ didn’t _ know everything. This was proof of that. Though it  _ was _ tough not to be jealous of her best friend. Getting to meet  _ David Shield _ . He was famous for far more than just his work with All Might.

Inko smiled at Tony and offered a small shrug. Not every child was as easy to make happy as Izuku, but a big factor here was  _ who _ was offering these things and she knew it. Izuku had no idea what to expect with his father coming into his life, and with everything Tony had done since Izuku had first seen him he had likely surpassed every expectation Izuku had. 

He wasn't a child that expected to get everything. Izuku had already faced a lot of rejection as a quirkless child, and many of the things he did get if he didn't guard them they were pulled away by others. This sometimes referred to toys, and other times it meant friendship getting pulled away. Yet Izuku seemed willing to give everything away even still, which was definitely something special. But, this still meant whenever someone offered something willingly to him he was thankful for it, even if he was hesitant to accept.

Tony mussed Izuku’s hair slightly, before hugging him back, unsure of what else to really do. Izuku being so easy to please reminded him painfully of himself at that age. He had already vowed to be a better father than Howard had been, though admittedly that was a pretty low bar to set. He liked to think he was already doing better, the trick was to keep it up.

Izuku relaxed easily into Tony's hug with a gentle smile, already showing his trust. He turned his head to look at his mom, but didn't pull away, since he wanted as much contact as his Dad would allow until he had to leave again. Which Izuku knew would happen eventually. He couldn't just stay. "Are we doing anything else tonight Mom?" He asked gently.

"Other than some ice cream cake, no. Anything else is up to you tonight." Inko replied.

Izuku's eyes widened slightly. " _ Ice cream cake?" _

Inko laughed slightly, "Yep. I thought you might like that."

Kaede grinned. She had no doubts that this was going down in the books as Izuku’s favorite birthday ever. She did have one thing she wanted to talk to Izuku’s dad about while he was here, though. She’d promised not to tell Aunty. She’d made no such promise about “Uncle Hisashi”.

Tony didn’t mind letting Izuku hold on as long as he wanted. He normally wasn’t a huge fan of physical affection, but this was his kid. He could deal with it.

"I'll go get it out if you're ready for cake." Inko said, getting a nod from Izuku. 

Izuku looked over at Masaru, "By the way Uncle Masaru, how do you know Dad? You seemed like friends. Did you know already?"

Kaede grinned wider, “ice cream cake!” She cheered. Ice cream cake was amazing, and Aunty always got the best kind.

Masaru looked over at Izuku and blinked, before grinning. “I interviewed him once, for a piece for Paragon, back when Mitsuki and I were still dating. I didn’t  _ know _ , exactly, but I had my suspicions, especially when Tony couldn’t keep his eyes  _ off _ of your mom.” He answered, smirking slightly at Tony.

Tony rolled his eyes. “Says the one who introduced us.” He shot back. It was still difficult for him to believe Masaru had  _ married _ that woman, but who was he to judge? He’d slept with worse, most likely.

Izuku giggled. "That makes sense. Adults do that look a lot and think we can't tell when they think someone else is pretty. And Mama  _ is _ pretty."

Inko brought out the cake with lit candles and smiled at Izuku, shaking her head lightly after hearing the last thing he'd said. She started to sing Happy Birthday to him, gesturing him over after setting down the cake so he could come blow the candles out. 

Izuku somewhat reluctantly pulled away so he could do just that once the song was finished.

Tony smirked, looking over at Inko and letting go of Izuku. “Indeed, your mother is  _ very _ pretty.” He agreed, before giving her a semi-obvious once-over. Most of his normal pickup lines were… rather inappropriate for little ears, anyway, so best to leave it at that.

Izuku went to blow the candles out, and so missed the way his mother blushed faintly and looked away from Tony. He got them all out in one breath and cheered happily. 

"Nice job Izuku!" Inko said, maneuvering to take the candles off. "Did you wish for anything?"

Izuku shook his head, "No. Couldn't think of anything. Last year's wish came true, so I couldn't do it again."

"Oh?" Inko asked, pointedly still facing away from Tony so he couldn't comment on her blushing as she grabbed a knife so she could cut and serve the cake. "It did? And what did you wish for?"

"To get to meet Dad." Izuku replied happily.

Tony definitely caught her blush, and smiled a bit wider. When Izuku mentioned what he’d wished for, he swore he could feel his heart skip a beat. Which was a dangerous thing for him in any circumstance. Normally he’d retort with something snarky, but he restrained himself. His kid was  _ happy _ to see him. It was so rare that anyone was genuinely happy to see him, besides Rhodey of course. He should enjoy it while it lasted.

Inko smiled softly at her son and gently brushed the hair out of his face so she could kiss his forehead, "Well, I'm glad you got your wish sweetie."

Izuku leaned into her touch, but let her pull away to cut the cake into equal slices. "I'm glad too. This is the best birthday  _ ever. _ "

Inko nodded slightly and put the cake slices onto plates. "Start off with one normal slice, but if you want more you can have it okay Izuku?"

"Okay Mama. Thank you."

Kaede smiled at Izuku. She was happy for her friend, and mildly amused (but not surprised) that he was still wearing the dress. She wasn’t about to say anything about it, though. He looked happy, which made  _ her _ happy.   
  
Tony watched Izuku and Inko interact with no small amount of awe. Their relationship was… so sweet.

Izuku grabbed his plate and gestured for other people to grab their cake too. "Get some cake? Melted ice cream isn't as good." He said as he sat down to start eating his dessert. Izuku seemed to remember he was wearing a dress as he looked down and grabbed a napkin and put it in his lap to catch any dribbles so it wouldn't mess it up.

Masaru helped Keded get a slice, before shrugging and taking one for himself at his daughter’s insistence. She ate her slice happily. Masaru, knowing they’d probably end up curled up asleep together at some point, just hoped the sugar wouldn’t make them  _ too _ hyper.

Later that evening, after the children had worn themselves out playing, Masaru and Kaede said their goodbyes. While Masaru knew Kaede would probably sneak back over later, Tony did not.

Tony spent the time the kids were playing catching up with Inko about what he’d missed, both in Izuku’s life  _ and _ hers.

Inko filled Tony in with the basics as much as she could. What Izuku loved, what he didn't like, what he did for fun. Izuku and Kaede's adventures into the woods came up and she explained that a little. She explained what she'd been up to as far as her job as a nurse, and what she'd been telling people about her "husband" so not to get people asking too many questions.

Once Kaede had left, Izuku played for a little while by himself with his new watch before deciding to get ready for bed. He went over and gave his mom a hug and a kiss goodnight before running up the stairs to get ready for bed, knowing Kaede probably wouldn't take too long to sneak back over so they could cuddle up and sleep in the same bed.

Tony had one big question for Inko at this point. As far as he was concerned, the woman ought to be canonized. Seriously. He grinned at her. “So, ideal vacation. If you could go  _ anywhere _ , and money wasn’t an issue, where would you want to go?”

Kaede, true to form, snuck back over to the house, climbing up the side of the house to Izuku’s window.

Inko blinked at the question, "Anywhere? Um…" She hesitated a moment, pausing to chew on her thumbnail as she thought. "That's a hard one to answer… there's so many places to go that I've never been and everywhere seems so interesting…" She muttered. Inko hummed, "Maybe Paris? Or… hm… maybe somewhere like Edinburgh..?" She sighed, "That's a really difficult question Tony."

Izuku got ready for bed quickly and unlocked his window on his own just in time to help Kaede in through the window. "Hi Kacchan." He said happily, "Dad's still downstairs so  _ shh. _ You ready for bed?"

Tony watched her consider the question with some amusement. The woman could be damn adorable when she was giving serious thought to something. He grinned. “Edinburgh? Scotland? What’s so interesting there?” He teased. Paris was put on his mental checklist of ‘places to take Inko’ though. “You don’t have to limit it to just one?” He offered, still mostly amused.

Kaede grinned, flopping onto Izuku’s bed with a small ‘thump’ befitting her size. She pulled her shoes off and put them with Izuku’s shoes before returning. “Hi.” She responded with a grin. She climbed back onto Izuku’s bed and flopped on top of him. “You looked cute in that dress.  _ Much _ better than me.”

"The castle and the gardens. And all the old buildings. Scotland seems pretty." Inko explained. "It'd just be nice to see in person. There's a lot of different reasons to visit  _ anywhere. _ It's one thing to read about Rome and see pictures, it's a whole other to experience it. Same with Paris or London or any of the places that would come to mind with a question like that." 

Izuku giggled quietly. "Thanks Kacchan. It felt nice. I liked it." He replied. "I think you would have looked nice too. But you don't like dresses." He wiggled slightly underneath Kaede, trying to scoot and free himself enough that he could lift his blanket for Kaede to get under with him.

Tony hummed. “That makes sense.” He was compiling a mental list of vacations with historical sites that she might like now, too. He grinned at her. “That’s true, I suppose.”

Kaede snorted, before rolling over so she could curl up under the blankets with him. “I don’t really know  _ why _ I don’t like dresses. I just don’t… feel like myself in them, the way I do in “boy clothes” as mom calls them.” She admitted. “Dad says I’m a tomboy, and I guess he’s right, but that doesn’t really… feel right either?” She shrugged. “Brains are weird.”

"What about you Tony?" Inko gently asked. "Is there anywhere you haven't gone yet that you'd want to?"

Izuku hummed. "Well, I don't mind that you don't like them. Kacchan is Kacchan. I just want you to be happy." He decided, snuggling up close. "If it doesn't feel right to you, I'll just do it for you. I like them, and my mom doesn't mind it. So it's okay. You don't have to do it when we get married either."

Tony thought for a moment. “I’ve been to lots of places. I’ve found that the more important thing is the people you go with, more than  _ where _ you go. Like when I go places for business, it’s usually  _ with _ people I’m doing business with, so it tends to be dull and stuffy.” He shrugged. “Destination doesn’t really matter to me as long as I like who I’m going with.”

Kaede blinked, then smiled genuinely. “This is why we’re best friends.” SHe declared, trying to keep her voice down. “I love you, ‘Zuku.” she added, hugging him close. She wished her mother could be more like her best friend and Aunty on the subject.

Inko smiled. "That makes sense too. Hopefully you can find someone who'll be your travel buddy so you can put that money to use for things like that." She said, automatically excluding herself as a possibility mentally. Not because she wouldn't enjoy it or wouldn't want to go with Tony. But simply because she assumed Tony wouldn't want that with her. She knew what kind of arrangement she was getting herself into when she was with Tony the first time leading up to her pregnancy, even if then she'd let herself hope even a little.

Izuku smiled back, "I love you too, Kacchan." He said, fully relaxing to let Kaede hold him. He paused for a moment before gently kissing Kaede's cheek, since that was what you were supposed to do after saying that in a relationship like theirs. At least in Izuku's mind anyway from what he'd seen. He made himself blush doing it, and hid his face against Kaede as they snuggled.

Tony's smile fell slightly at Inko excluding herself, but decided to try again. "Well, cities like Paris or Venice are supposed to be romantic, or so I've heard. Can't take just anybody  _ there _ ." He noted. He wasn't sure what he was hoping for here, honestly.

Kaede blushed too, snuggling Izuku. That kiss was kinda weird, but that was what people who were going to get married  _ did _ , wasn't it? So she shouldn't be too surprised.

"True." Inko agreed. She bit her lip, thinking for a moment. "Is… there anybody you'd want to do that with now? You er… Hm how do I put this…" She sighed, "You never seemed like that was something you'd be interested in before. I can already tell you've changed since we…" She cleared her throat, "Had our thing. So… Is there someone?"

Tony blinked rapidly. "Right now? Nah. I thought Pep and I might, but we're really better as friends." He shrugged. "That's how it goes sometimes, I guess." He considered her comment at him changing. "I suppose… almost dying does that to people." He shrugged, as if to say 'what can you do?'

Inko hummed, "I suppose yeah. You'd be surprised how often someone  _ doesn't _ change though. At least you don't think you're immortal now somehow." She offered. She shrugged back, "I understand that. Sometimes you are just better off as friends. I  _ especially _ understand not having someone right now." She joked. "Since I'm 'married' I obviously haven't dated since I got pregnant with Izu. It'd just raise too many questions or put me in a bad light." She explained, "I'd rather avoid that."

Tony hummed. "That makes sense." He frowned, feeling kinda guilty that she'd been forced to remove herself from the dating pool for a 'marriage' that wasn't even real. While dating was a crapshoot at best at times, she still shouldn't have to sit out at the prime of her life if she didn't want to.

Inko sighed. "Tony. Don't even start blaming yourself for that. If I found someone I was interested in, I'd probably go for it… if I thought they'd be interested too… which…" She shook her head to stop going down that track, "Point is, I wouldn't be dating right now either way. I'm not actively looking."

Tony suppressed a snort. "If you say so." He agreed easily enough. Before he could stop himself, he blurted out, "have you ever wanted to see New York City?" He hesitated for a moment after saying it, but mentally decided 'fuck it' and went ahead with it. "Next month I have to travel there for SI business. If you and Izuku can get away for a weekend…?" He offered, trailing off at the end.

Inko blinked rapidly, taking a moment to process."New York? I'd… be interested. Um… Izuku would need a passport…" She thought out loud. "If you'd like to take us I think Izuku would enjoy going anywhere with you. Er…" She hesitated for a moment. "Would you… be paying for all that?"

Tony blinked at Inko's acceptance, before nodding quickly. "Yeah, of course. I know it's a bit last minute, so I understand if you can't get away from work, or if Izuku has school… I know the Japanese school year is different than the one in the States… I just thought I'd offer."

"He's about to go on summer vacation." Inko explained, "He'll have all next month off, so that's not an issue. And… I think I have some vacation hours. I'd need to schedule the time off soon though. So I'd need to know when we're going." She shrugged and offered a small smile, "This is  _ all _ sudden and last minute. I don't mind. It's definitely making Izuku happy, and that's the main thing I care about right now."

Tony couldn't help but laugh a little bit at Inko's statement. "I guess that's true, isn't it." He hummed in thought. "I'll need to be in New York… the 16th of next month?" Contrary to the game he played with Pepper, he  _ did _ remember dates and meetings, he just  _ chose _ to "forget" about board meetings, because they bored the living hell out of him, and Obie (and this wonderful invention called  _ e-mail _ ) kept him updated on anything important that had happened.

"So a full month's notice if I call it in tomorrow. That works." Inko said with a small nod. She looked towards the clock, "Which reminds me… I better get to bed. I have a morning shift tomorrow." She looked back at Tony, "Do you have somewhere to stay for the night?"

Tony looked at the clock as well, before nodding. "I do. I got a hotel room when I got into town, since I wasn't sure exactly how you would react to me showing up unexpectedly." He paused for a moment. "I… Would it be okay if I went upstairs to say goodnight? If he's still up, of course."

Inko nodded, smiling. "Of course. He probably still is if I had to guess." She stood up, "His is the one with the All Might themed name plaque. Though, I'm sure you could have guessed that even without reading it."

Tony snorted again. "Let me guess, his room is practically a shrine to All Might?" He asked. He stood as well, unsure exactly how to part from Inko properly after so long. A handshake seemed too formal, but a hug seemed too forward and informal.

"Basically yes." Inko replied with a small laugh. "He's a bit obsessed. It's adorable though, and a fairly harmless obsession to have. Much easier to handle than most things he could have been obsessed with." She hesitated to move too. Unsure of quite how to say goodbye. "Um… It was really nice talking to you again Tony." She said after a moment.

Tony nodded in agreement. "It was. Nice, I mean." He smiled, slightly awkwardly, before tentatively moving towards the stairs to say goodnight to Izuku.

Kaede was still awake, just enjoying being curled up with Izuku. She was slowly starting to drift off, though.

"Good night Tony." Inko said before awkwardly shuffling off herself to get ready for bed.

Izuku's mind was racing a bit too much to start drifting off yet. But he stayed quiet with his eyes closed nonetheless to try to drift off. So  _ much _ had happened with him meeting his dad, and he was running through every little thing in his head trying to remember every detail. 

Tony walked up the stairs slowly, trying not to make too much noise, in case Izuku  _ had _ fallen asleep. He didn’t want to wake the kid if he could avoid it. He reached Izuku’s door and knocked softly once. If Izuku responded, he’d open the door.

Izuku blinked his eyes open at the noise in confusion. "H-Hello?" He said quietly, looking around the dark of his room to try and tell if something had fallen over.

Kaede opened her eyes at the noise, peering into the dark much like Izuku. She stayed curled up otherwise, for now.

Tony, hearing Izuku’s voice, gently opened the door. “Hey kid. Just came up to say goodnight.” He offered quietly. He started when he realized the light from the hall was reflecting off of  _ two _ pairs of eyes, not one. “Wh-”

Izuku rubbed his eyes, trying to get his eyes to adjust to the light from the hall. "Oh, okay. G-" He started, pausing when he saw Tony get startled to look at Kaede. He remembered vaguely his Mom and Uncle Masaru reacting similarly when they had first started sneaking over to each other's rooms to sleep. "Um… Kacchan came back to sleep with me?" He offered.

Kaede rolled her eyes and laid her head back down. Adults were weird. They could have unplanned sleepovers, why couldn’t she and ‘Zuku?

Tony snorted in mild amusement. “Do you two do this often…?” He asked, despite knowing the answer was probably yes. “Why don’t you just stay, rather than leaving and coming back?”

"Yeah?" Izuku answered. "Um… usually it's just because our parents bring us back home. Even if we wanna sleep over. It's easier sleeping together, so sometimes I sneak over. Or Kacchan comes over here." He explained.

Tony raised an eyebrow at that. “So… why don’t you two just ask to stay, if you’re just going to come back anyway?”

Kaede gave him a look. “They can’t say no if we just do it.” She responded, like it was the most logical thing in the world.

Tony sighed. “I guess that’s one way to look at it.” Knowing it wasn’t an argument he was going to win, he relented. “Anyway, good night, you two.”

"Night night, Dad. Love you." Izuku replied, snuggling back up with Kaede.

“Night Uncle ‘Sashi.” Kaede answered, a teasing lilt to her voice.

Tony snickered. “Love you too, Izuku.” He replied, withdrawing from the room and shutting the door behind him.


	2. Chapter 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Izuku, Inko, and Tony go to a museum in New York. And when Tony leaves to go to a meeting, Izuku makes a new friend.

/// August 16th 2009

Izuku bounced in place excitedly looking at an exhibit, the backpack he was wearing that held his notebooks bouncing with him. Tony had brought them to a museum in New York, and Izuku was  _ loving it. _ Having to stop and take notes at every other one just to log the new information he'd learned. Since it was a museum he was using one of his school books and not encoding it like he normally would for most of the notes, meaning Tony and Inko could read his scribbles.

Though, occasionally he'd stop and pull out one out his hero analysis notebook and flip to a particular page to add a note when something occurred to him as well.

Tony followed behind Izuku with Inko. He watched Izuku go with a fond smile. He’d put on some makeup to help disguise his appearance, along with his usual hat and sunglasses routine. The best thing he could do for his son on this outing was to make sure the paps didn’t pick up on anything. To unaware eyes, they simply looked like a tourist family at the museum.

Izuku scurried off towards another exhibit, dragging a quietly laughing Inko behind him. He squinted at the plaque explaining what it was and the information on it, making a face at the words he didn't understand on it since it was written in english.

Inko crouched down to read the words Izuku didn't know out to him, which he quietly sounded out himself.

Izuku turned to look up at Tony, "Um… you speak English normally right? Was it hard getting used to Japanese? English words and grammar are confusing."

Tony looked at the sign, watching Izuku figure it out. At his question, he hummed thoughtfully. “Honestly, after learning English, the strict rules of other languages made them easier to learn. English tries to do five things at once and fails at all of them. Besides that, it doesn’t even always follow its own rules. It’s probably the most difficult language to learn.”

Izuku nodded, "Definitely seems like it. I'll get it eventually though." He looked back towards the exhibit and started to mutter quietly to himself as he looked it over.

Inko stood back up and looked at Tony, "How much longer do we have till you need to leave for your meeting?" She asked him.

Tony glanced at his watch. “I’d say probably about 15 minutes. Meeting starts in half an hour and it’s about a 10 minute walk from here.” He offered after some mental calculations. “Anything in particular sound good for lunch?”

Inko hummed, "Not anything in particular I can think of." She looked towards Izuku, "Izu, are you hungry for anything specific?"

Izuku blinked and cut off his mutterings hearing his name. "Oh um… something new I guess? Since we're here and… I don't think they'd have what we get normally anyway. Or it'd taste funny here if they did." He shrugged, "Dad can pick."

Tony hummed. “New York style pizza. I don’t think you’ve ever had that, either of you. It’s the perfect opportunity, being in New York City.” He grinned. “I can practically promise it won’t be like any pizza you’ve had before.”

Izuku grinned, "Okay! Sounds yummy. How is it different from normal pizza though?" He asked curiously as he moved towards what would likely be the last exhibit before Tony had to leave.

Tony grinned. “It’s a New York specialty. It’s a thin-crust pizza, but instead of being thin and crispy all around, it’s soft enough in the middle to fold without losing any toppings.” He grinned. “At some point, I’ll have to get you to try some Chicago-style deep dish, too. They’re both good.” He glanced at the exhibit they were headed to, and blinked rapidly realizing what it was. 

Izuku tilted his head at the exhibit, the plaque reading 'Captain America' showing a costume, a shield, and a bunch of other images and memorabilia. He turned and looked at Tony questioningly, "Who's that?" He asked, having no recognition in his eyes to who the man was.

Tony couldn’t help but laugh at Izuku not knowing who Captain America was. Considering how obsessed Howard had been, the fact that his grandson had no idea was actually hilarious to him. He looked down at Izuku. “Captain America was a World War 2 hero. Kinda like America’s version of All Might, before Pro Heros were a thing.” For Izuku’s benefit, he added. “He was one of a kind. Even with quirks, no one’s really been able to recreate any of the things he supposedly did”

Izuku's eyes widened slightly in excitement as he pulled out his hero analysis notebook for notes on this section. "That's  _ so cool. _ So… that was around the time quirks really started appearing everywhere and the world was super chaotic right? Since pro heroes popped up not long after right before things started to settle." He turned to look at the exhibit again, going over to where there was a timeline showing the things that Captain America had done since first appearing till his disappearance in the line of battle. He tilted his head at the info about his power set.

"There was a spike in his ability right… here after he went to that Nazi base and saved all those soldiers." He pointed out. "Might've been his quirk appearing after finding the trigger." He tilted his head back up, "It's like a weaker version of All Might's quirk."

Tony nodded. “That was when they started becoming more prevalent in the public eye, yes.” At Izuku’s comparison, Tony couldn’t help but laugh, picturing Howard’s face if he ever heard such a thing about  _ Captain America _ . Once he’d calmed down slightly, Tony couldn’t help but mutter, “Oh, kid, I almost wish you could have met your grandfather.” Before Izuku could ask about that comment, he noted, “look for mentions of Howard Stark in Cap’s timeline. That’s your grandfather.”

Izuku blinked at Tony's laughter and comment. "Oh! Okay." He replied, turning to look towards it again.

Inko hummed. "Something tells me it's good he can't." She noted quietly so only Tony could hear.

"He made Captain America's shield?" Izuku asked as he read along, slightly frustrated that he had to slow down so much to read the information. "What was it even made of? A normal metal shield wouldn't bounce like it says he used it, there  _ had _ to be something special in it. But it doesn't list that here."

Tony offered a small wry smile in response to Inko’s comment. “...it really is.” He agreed. He looked back at Izuku, before walking over to him and kneeling. “That he did. He made it out of a rare metal called vibranium. It’s supposedly 10 times as durable as steel, and half the weight.” Tony frowned. “That shield was the only sample of that metal the Allies had. It vanished with Rogers. Your grandfather spent years, and millions of dollars trying to find both the shield, and Rogers’ body. Neither have been found to this day.”

Izuku frowned, "All that to find a body and a shield?" He asked, "Even if the shield is super valuable, that doesn't make much sense to do." He looked towards the replica shield, "Vibranium sounds like it's really useful though. It's probably good it's not common though too. Anything heroes can get their hands on, so can villains usually."

Tony snorted. “I think that last sentence was your grandfather’s logic. Better that he be the one to find both than enemies who might use that shield and whatever secrets Rogers’ body held against the Allies in the future.” He didn’t say anything about how he’d found indications that his father had burned his notes on the super soldier serum and the combination of Vita Rays it took to ensure Rogers’ survival. That particular secret formula had gone with him to his grave, on purpose. Which was a good thing, considering how many attempts there’d been at replicating the success of Captain America. If they’d had the correct formula, it would have been even worse.

Izuku hummed, mulling that information over as he started to write in his notebook. "Maybe so, but one shield could only do so much. And… whatever they did to make him so strong in the first place, they probably tried to test his blood and dna themselves too right? Wouldn't they have figured out if there even was anything to find?" He asked. "Um… did he have any kids?" He added in question, trying to think if there could be a connection somewhere from All Might to Captain America with the quirk similarities.

Tony grinned. “And now you’re getting into the big secrets, kid.” He ruffled Izuku’s hair. “I’ll tell you more about that some other time.” He offered. He needed time to plan how much he could safely reveal about all of that. “As far as kids, no. He didn’t have any.” The sickly kid Erskine had told Aunt Peggy and Howard Stark about didn’t really have many more ambitions beyond joining the army and fighting the Nazis like his best friend, James Barnes. Tony could sympathize with that kid.

Izuku nodded with a small smile. "Alright, Dad." He had a confused look at Captain America not having any kids before something seemed to occur to him and Izuku quickly scribbled down a encoded note to look into later. Genetics was the usual way to pass down a quirk, but he wondered if there was another way for quirks to be passed on.

If Tony was startled by Izuku’s easy acceptance, he didn’t show it. “Any more of the exhibit you want to see before I have to go? Maybe the bit about the Howling Commandos?

Izuku nodded, "That sounds good! I wanna fill out this section as much as I can." He said, gesturing to his notebook. He looked in the direction of the Howling Commandos part and grabbed Tony's hand to pull him over with him so they could look at it together.

Inko smiled fondly and followed close behind, letting the two boys have their time together.

Tony laughed softly, following Izuku to the section he wanted to look at. He’d heard stories about them too, and he was sure Peggy had kept in contact with all of them, He hadn’t heard quite as much about them as about Rogers, but after he’d disappeared, as far as he knew, she’d at least followed their lives as much as she could. He answered as many of Izuku’s questions about them as he could, filling in information the exhibit had left out.

Izuku ended up with a pretty well padded out section of his notebook on Captain America and the Howling Commandos by the time Tony had to leave, plus more questions he planned on doing research on later. He gave Tony a big hug before he left, "Bye Dad, see you soon. Have a good meeting." He said with a big grin.

"Where should we meet up with you after, Tony?" Inko asked.

Tony hugged Izuku back easily. “Well I don’t know about how good it will be, but I’ll certainly try.” He stood back up, thinking about Inko’s question. “There’s a pizza place a few blocks away> We could meet there? J can help you get there.” He offered.

Inko nodded, "Sounds good. You can message Izuku so we know when to head there right?" She asked.

Tony nodded. “Yeah, I will. I’ll see you both later.” He gave Izuku another quick hair ruffle and Inko a quick hug before heading out. No point in not going along with the act of a happy family just because of awkwardness. He walked to the place he was supposed to go, wiping his makeup off in the bathroom and trading his briefcase for his hat and glasses with Happy before heading to the conference room.

Izuku continued on towards the next exhibit and sat himself down on a bench in front of it so he could sort through his notes and thoughts a little more before looking at the other side of the story with the exhibit on the Nazis. Izuku could tell, especially given the blanks Tony filled in, that not everything was public info on what had  _ actually  _ happened and he was trying to figure out how to fill those blanks.

After a few minutes, a boy about Izuku’s age rushed into the exhibit, his blond hair looking mildly windblown by how fast he was running. A brunette woman pushing a stroller followed, calling out, “Cooper, slow  _ down _ , please.”

The boy skidded to a halt in front of the start of the exhibit, reading everything available. He turned to look at the woman who had called to him, chattering about what the exhibit said, while she looked like she was trying to keep up.

Izuku hopped up with his non hero analysis notebook in his hands to look at the information and pictures they had available, glancing at the excited blond boy for a moment. He turned back to the exhibit and squinted at one of the pictures. There was an emblem on one of the soldiers that was blurry and hard to make out, but there didn't seem to be any info on it from what Izuku could read. He frowned and started to sketch the emblem down as best as he could from the blurry photo.

He grumbled quietly at the English on the plaque and looked back at his mom who was now resting and sitting on the bench watching him. Izuku didn't want to bother her to explain what a few of the words meant so he hesitantly turned to the other boy. "Um… Excuse me?" He asked in English, speaking hesitantly. "Do you know what this word is? I haven't seen it before." He asked, pointing towards the plaque.

Cooper paused his rambling to look over at Izuku, then at the plaque, identifying which word he meant. He thought for a moment, then pronounced the word, trying to define it as simply as possible without seeming to insult the other boy’s intelligence. He studied him for a moment, before asking, “so what’s your first language?” He seemed to realize how rude that sounded, if the  _ look _ his mother was shooting the back of his head was any indication, so he continued to try to rectify it. “Aunty Nat speaks Russian, mostly, but I haven’t heard your accent before. Is it Asian?” He asked, relieved when his mother’s glare subsided.

Izuku quickly made a note, glad that Cooper had explained it simply enough he could understand without having to bug Jarvis. And that the other boy hadn't gotten mad at him for asking. He blinked at him, "Oh, yeah. I'm from Japan, Japanese is my first language. We're visiting right now." He explained.

Cooper blinked, glad the other boy hadn’t gotten mad at  _ him _ for being rude. “That’s cool! Uncle Clint knows Japanese, so does Aunty Nat. They promised to start teaching me different languages, but they’ve been out of town for longer than expected.” He was glad the other boy seemed friendly. “My name’s Cooper. Cooper Barton. Or, I guess Barton Cooper would be the way it’d be said in Japan?”

Izuku grinned, "Nice to meet you! I'm Midoriya Izuku." He offered with a slight bow, "Izuku Midoriya here I guess? You use your given names more than your family name here right? Um… what should I call you then? Is… er… Barton-kun too formal? Wait… you don't use… hm…" He wrinkled his nose. "I should've asked Dad how to address people in the US." He thought out loud in Japanese.

Cooper grinned. "Yeah, we do. It probably seems a bit weird if you're used to last names, I guess? You can call me Cooper if you want, though!" He chirped. "What about you? What would you prefer I call you?"

Izuku blinked, "Oh! Um… Well if I can call you Cooper, you can call me Izuku then?" He suggested, "That's probably easiest." He turned back to the exhibit then looked down at the sketch he drew from the picture. He pointed at it to show Cooper, "Um… do you know what this is? It's in that picture there." He pointed to the image he'd gotten it from. "But… unless I'm reading wrong there isn't anything about it."

Cooper looked at the drawing, squinting slightly. He knew his uncle had told him if he ever saw that on a person to run away and find him or Aunty Nat, but he wasn't supposed to share that with people. So, he shrugged. "Doesn't look familiar." He squinted at the blurry picture, wondering why his uncle was so worried about an insignia from World War 2.

Izuku hummed, tapping his pencil on his chin looking at it. "I'll have to ask my Dad then. He might know. Thank you though." He muttered quickly to himself for a moment before catching himself and smiling sheepishly at Cooper. "Sorry. I do that. Um… so… do you like learning about…" He gestured towards the exhibit. "You seemed…" He paused a second trying to remember the right word in English, "Excited."

Cooper grinned. “Oh, yeah, I love history. It’s exciting to hear all the different stories, especially the ones that aren’t in books for school. Like…” He thought for a minute. “Did you know, Hitler most likely had a latent compulsion quirk?” He asked, trying to impress his new friend.

Izuku blinked, understanding all but the word 'compulsion' in what Cooper said. He mouthed the word and went to look at his watch to either look it up himself or ask Jarvis only to find the translation and definition pulled up for him already. Izuku smiled, "Thanks Jarvis." He said quietly before quickly reading it. He put his attention back on Cooper. "That makes a lot of sense!" He replied to him with a grin, "It probably made everything a lot easier. Even if he didn't realize because it was… not active." 

Cooper grinned. “Yeah!” He agreed, his attention stolen by the watch. “Oh, cool!” He grinned.

Laura sighed. “I think that’s the most still he’s been in months.” She commented idly.

Inko snickered hearing Laura. "I could say the same about Izuku. Though that's mostly because he's having a tough time communicating in English yet I think." She commented. "That's my son Izuku." She offered, "Are you Cooper's mom then?" Inko asked her.

"You like it?" Izuku asked, grinning at Cooper taking notice of his watch. "My dad gave it to me for my birthday. It's  _ super  _ cool."

Laura grinned slightly. “I am, yeah. I’m Laura, and this little one is my daughter, Lila.” She answered, holding out her hand in an offer to shake.

Cooper looked back up at Izuku. “It looks like it! Is it Stark tech?” He asked, curiously. “I wanted one but Mom said to try asking Santa for one.”

Inko shook Laura's hand with a smile. "I'm Inko. It's nice to meet you."

Izuku nodded, "It is. I don't think it's the same ones they sell though." He paused for a moment. "My Dad works there, so what he can get might be different."

Cooper’s eyes went wide. “Your dad  _ works there _ ? How cool is that?!” He yelped, getting even more excited. “Yeah, I heard they have access to prototype stuff that doesn’t get sold. Is that one of them?”

Izuku grinned wider. "I think so. Jarvis would know though." He looked down at the watch, "Did Dad actually give me a prototype Jarvis? Is that why it does the holographic screen stuff?" Izuku asked.

Cooper listened to Izuku speak in Japanese, fascinated. He couldn’t figure out what was being said, though it wasn’t for a lack of trying.

JARVIS responded in Japanese as well. “Indeed, young Sir. This watch is, in fact, a prototype of your father’s own design.”

Laura, on the other hand, understood more Japanese than her son did, and recognized Jarvis as a name. “Did your son name the AI or did it come pre-named, like Siri or Alexa?”

" _ Cool. _ I'll have to look up what the watches they sell do later." Izuku said with a grin. He hummed for a moment, "You probably aren't part of all the SI tech are you? At least what gets sold. You're a bit too special for that I'd think. Plus that doesn't seem like much fun for you anyway."

Inko shook her head, "No. Jarvis already had a name when Izuku got the watch."

If an AI could laugh, JARVIS would be. “No, young Sir. I am most definitely not part of all SI tech. I monitor most of Stark Industries at Sir’s request, though. It is… interesting.”

Laura hummed, not able to hear the entire conversation between Izuku and his watch’s AI. She didn’t even realize StarkWatches  _ came _ with an AI. That was new information to her. Lila started fussing around then, so Laura picked her up and rocked her in place to try to get her to calm down.

"That's really cool Jarvis. At least it's interesting for you." Izuku said with a smile. "I'm glad this watch you're connected to though. You're awesome to talk to." He said, tucking his notebook under his arm for a moment so he could hug Jarvis. Well, hug him the best way he could through the watch anyway.

He looked back up at Cooper, "Jarvis says it is a prototype. So, it's got some stuff the watches you can get don't. Jarvis doesn't come with those ones either. He's special." Izuku explained to him. 

Cooper watched Izuku ‘hug’ the watch with a mixture of curiosity and amusement. When Izuku switched back to English, Cooper was even more questions. “Special? How so? Do only certain prototypes have him?” He fired off his questions in a manner Tony would call similar to Izuku. “Your dad must have a  _ really _ good job in SI to get  _ special _ prototypes like that.”

Izuku blinked rapidly, now knowing what it felt like to be on the other side of rapid fire questions like that. It took a moment for him to really process what Cooper had said. "Jarvis is basically a person that lives in tech. So special." He answered first. "Um… not sure on that. And… My Dad helps make all the tech, so I'd say so." Thankfully, none of the cover story they'd come up with were really  _ lies _ other than saying his name was Hisashi when asked, but finding the right words in English was still hard.

Laura snorted as Cooper started getting excited. “I.. apologize in advance. He doesn’t really have an ‘off switch’ when he gets like this.” She offered.

Cooper blinked, grinning even wider. “So he’s like… an actual AI instead of a voice command assistant like Alexa or Siri? That’s the coolest thing ever! Or… I guess, Jarvis is the  _ coolest _ . Aside from, y’know, your dad.” Cooper amended, taking note of how Izuku had referred to Jarvis as a person.

Izuku grinned and nodded excitedly, "Yeah! I try to not bug him, but he's super helpful. And fun to just talk to." He giggled happily, "Yeah, my Dad is the coolest. I love him."

Inko smiled, "Izuku gets like that too. Bring up heroes and quirks and he'll start rambling almost too fast to understand. He gets pretty embarrassed after though."

Cooper beamed. “So can he answer questions about history and stuff?” He asked, now curious as to how much Izuku had tested Jarvis’ capabilities.

Laura blinked. “You don’t say. I guess it’s not surprising they’re getting along so well, then.”

Izuku nodded, "Jarvis knows pretty much everything I think. He helped me a little when I got stuck when I was studying. I try to do research alone though." He shrugged, "Like I said I don't want to bug him."

Cooper nodded sagely. “It’s more fun to find the answers yourself, I think. Uncle Clint might disagree, though. He doesn’t like school work, and Aunty Nat is… kinda intimidating to ask about  _ math _ .” He smiled sheepishly and rubbed the back of his head.

"Mhm. Plus, finding it out yourself means you can check facts too. Instead of trusting what you get told." Izuku agreed. He snickered a bit, "Is she super serious about it or something?" He asked, "Or is it just… e-embarrassing?"

Cooper snorted. “She’s super, super serious. And she has this face where you can’t tell if she’s happy, upset or mad. Uncle Clint calls it her… game face? He lost a whole week’s paycheck to her at poker once because he couldn’t tell if she was bluffing. She was. She showed me her cards.” He looked proud of that.

Izuku laughed, "That sounds kinda like Kacchan." He noted. "That sounds scary and cool." He said, though he wasn't sure if that was quite the right words he was looking for. "Seems silly to bet that much though with someone like that." He joked, "Unless your Uncle thought he could tell before that."

Cooper grinned. “He won it back the next game. They work together so they know how to read each other, or at least that’s what Uncle Clint says. He won’t really tell me a lot about what they do, though. Say’s it’s “grown-up stuff”.” Cooper shrugged. “Mom says as long as he comes home every time he leaves, that’s what matters. I think he’s with the military or something.”

Izuku hummed before nodding. Even if he had questions about Cooper's uncle's job it seemed like he wouldn't get answers from him even if he could find the words to ask, so he didn't press. "Whatever job it is, if it's dangerous enough for that, that probably is all that matters. If he's doing good, that's good, and he's just gotta be careful."

Cooper nodded. “Yeah, I guess.” He looked back at the exhibit changing the subject. “So have you seen the Captain America exhibit yet? Or is this the first one you went to?”

"I saw the Captain America one first." Izuku replied. "Which was good, since my Dad was able to… say stuff about it the plaques didn't before he had to go."

Cooper looked excited. “Oh? What kind of stuff? I know there’s a lot the history books  _ don’t _ say, so he must know some of that, right?” His eyes lit up again. Izuku’s dad was just getting cooler and cooler by the second.

Izuku nodded, but hesitated to explain, trying to think of what he could say that would probably be okay. "Um… Captain America's shield was made with vibranium?" He offered. "And… hm… oh, they've been trying to find his body and the shield since he disappeared but haven't found anything yet. Even though they put a lot of time and money in it. He vanished."

Cooper’s eyes went wide. “ _ Vibranium? _ From Wakanda? But how did the Allies  _ get it _ ? It’s supposed to be  _ really _ rare, and  _ really really expensive _ . Like making a shield out of solid  _ diamond _ woulda been cheaper.” He rattled off some random facts he’d learned about the durability of vibranium.

"Wakanda?" Izuku asked, confused. Though he started quickly jotting down notes on what Cooper was saying about it. "Um… apparently they only had a little sample." He explained. "Just enough to make the shield. But that's how he was able to use it like he did. It made it light and able to bounce."

Cooper grinned at seeing him take notes. “Wakanda is a small country in Africa. They keep to themselves, and apparently stayed out of the slave trade by giving away vibranium instead. Which, at first people thought was just useless, but then it turned out that it really wasn’t, so Wakanada was left alone, because they knew how to make weapons out of Vibranium. It’s supposed to be  _ really hard _ to work with, ‘cause it’s got a higher melting point than most furnaces, or fire quirks, can handle, and since it’s supposed to be more durable than steel, melting it’s really the only way to do much of anything with it.”

"Huh. I wonder how they figured out how to melt and use it then." Izuku said, still jotting down notes. "Is Wakanda the only place it's found then? It has to be if they…" He paused for a moment, frustration evident on his face at not knowing the right words. "If people had to go there to get it." He said, though it wasn't quite what he had wanted to say.

“Export?” Cooper offered helpfully. “As far as anyone knows, yeah. Wakanda’s the only place in the  _ world _ where it occurs naturally. There’s a lot of people who say it’s surprising a place like Wakanda can craft with it. On the surface it looks like a simple village. But if they can  _ make things with vibranium _ , there has to be more to it. Uncle Clint and Aunty Nat say so too.”

"Must be." Izuku agreed. "If they're advanced enough maybe they have a way of hiding that? Vibranium probably has a lot of uses outside of just weapons after all. That's just what most people think of first for some reason."

Cooper nodded along emphatically. “Yeah. That. Dunno what else vibranium could be used for, but there’s gotta be  _ something _ . Walls? Buildings maybe?” He shrugged. “Lotsa choices.” He noted.

"Tech stuff too…" Izuku blinked, a thought occurring to him. But he wasn't quite sure how to express it to Cooper. He bit his lip, bouncing in place slightly. "Um… What if they…" He started, tapping on his watch and hitting the button for the larger holographic screen after a moment and pointed to it. " _ That."  _ He said before dismissing the screen.

Cooper tilted his head, staring at the watch and thinking. “Hol- holo...grams?” He tried, thinking that might be the right word, but not sure. “You think… they could make holo-grams with vibranium?” He thought more about it. Holo-grams of what, though?”

"Anything really. Just to hide wherever it is they make things with vibranium." Izuku said. "It seems like that'd be a good way for them to protect themselves." He explained.

Cooper blinked once, then again. “That makes sense.” He agreed slowly. “If they’re done well, holo-grams can be hard to see through. Aunty Nat says they… they use people’s espec…. Espectations against them.”

Izuku nodded. "If people think there's only a small village, that's what they let them see. Um… like… not seeing a punch from a kid." He said, knowing that when Kaede threw a punch people didn't usually expect it to hurt because she was a little girl. Even though Kaede's punches hurt a  _ lot. _

Cooper blinked at that example. Aunty Nat and Uncle Clint were trying to teach him to throw a punch. His mother wasn't happy, but understood why. He nodded. "People don't espect kids to be able to defend themselves." He agreed. He thought more about Wakanda. "I wonder what Wakanda  _ really _ looks like. Under the holo-grams."

Izuku hummed, "Who knows. I'm sure it looks a lot different than what we have though." He sighed, "They sound so…" He paused trying to think of the right word again, "Keep secrets. So… we might not find out."

Cooper pouted at that, though he knew Izuku was probably right. He wanted to  _ know _ , though. Here were stories that wouldn't be in  _ any _ books, and Cooper had no way of finding them out. That was one of the most annoying things in the world, as far as he was concerned. "Secretive, I think?" He suggested as the word Izuku was struggling with.

Izuku blinked, "Oh, yeah. That sounds right. Thank you, Cooper." He sighed, "English is hard." He looked down at his notebooks, "I'd let you read. But this one," He held up his school notebook, "Is in Japanese. And this one," He held up his hero analysis notebook, "Only I know how to read. I… don't know your word for what I did."

Cooper blinked. "Like a secret code?" He asked. "That's so cool! That must be some top-secret spy stuff!" He looked excited over the idea. "Wanna go look at the rest of the exhibit???"

Izuku grinned at Cooper's enthusiasm and nodded after putting his notebooks in his bag to make it easier to carry. "Yeah!" He replied, getting excited from his excitement. "I'll follow you."

Cooper beamed, heading along the exhibit, reading everything he possibly could along the way and commenting on holes in the story, or details that didn't add up as they went. His excitement was only fueled by talking to someone his age who tended to  _ also _ notice the gaps and have questions about them. Plus his new friend could  _ keep up with his thought process _ .

Izuku had to ask Jarvis for translations a few times, or just ask Cooper to restate what he said a little slower so he could understand. He didn't like that he had to do that but it was unfortunately necessary. He was genuinely having fun running around with his new friend. 

Inko had to run to catch up a bit with the two young boys, but was happy to see her son getting along with another child that  _ wasn't  _ just Kaede.

Laura pushed the stroller along, still carrying Lila. She watched the boys, amused. "It's nice to see Cooper getting along with someone his age. Are you two from the area?"

Cooper was happy to slow down when needed, knowing he was going to have similar issues when  _ he _ started learning new languages. Besides, it definitely made him feel special to be helping someone his age with their English.

"Oh, no we're not. We live in Japan. But… my husband lives here for work and flew us in for a visit while he's doing some work here." Inko explained, slipping the lie about her 'husband' in easily. She had a little over 6 years of practice now, and it was to keep her son safe so she didn't mind telling this one lie. 

Laura took in that answer with a smile. "Well it's nice that your son gets to see his dad, then. We're not from New York either, although we don't live quite as far as Japan, admittedly"

"Yeah it is." Inko agreed with a smile looking towards the two boys again. "That watch Hisashi gave him helps now too. Izuku can contact him through it whenever he wants." She looked back at Laura. "Where are you all from then?"

Laura couldn’t help but coo slightly. “That’s so sweet. He sounds like a good father.” She blinked. “Oh, we have a small farmhouse out in Montana. My brother has an apartment in the city, so we’re visiting for the weekend.”

Inko nodded, "He definitely tries." She replied, not mentioning the time he was absent. Tony was trying to make up for that now. "Oh, that sounds nice. A farmhouse sounds like a nice place to live. Outside of all the city bustle and all that." She noted. "It's nice you're visiting your brother though."

Laura grinned, settling a now-calm Lila back in her stroller. “It can be nice, most days. Unfortunately it means Cooper doesn’t get a lot of interaction with kids his age, so the city can be a nice change of pace.” She could tell there was  _ something _ the woman she was talking to- Inko, she reminded herself, was hiding, but she wasn’t exactly being entirely truthful either, so she really couldn’t say anything.

If it was up to Cooper, he could spend all day in a history museum. Though he’d definitely have to start writing down notes like Izuku did. That seemed handy, especially if he could create a cipher too. It’d be a fun project to see how long it took Aunty Nat and Uncle Clint to figure it out.

"That makes sense. Though, Izuku doesn't get much interaction either and we live in a city so it all depends I suppose." Inko replied. "The… other kids tend to avoid him. Or are rude when they don't, so he really only has one friend as far as I know." She sighed watching Izuku pull out one of his notebooks again, "It's nice seeing him get along with another kid besides Kaede though."

Izuku blinked at how much he'd filled out in the notebook Kaede had gotten him for his birthday already. It had already been filling up but he'd added more hero notes than he'd expected to it that day. He frowned, "I'm going to need a new one soon already. I'll probably have to buy a normal one though." He sighed before realizing Cooper may not have heard of All Might similarly to his dad. "Cooper? Um… have you heard of All Might before?" He asked gently.

Laura frowned. “I don’t understand children sometimes, and I’m sure I was one at some point.” She watched the boys interact, spotting Izuku’s notebook theme. “I take it he likes heros, then?”

Cooper blinked, looking from the exhibit to Izuku. He glanced down at the notebook. “He’s that guy, right?” He asked, pointing at the cover. “I’ve heard of him. There’s a lot of people in the States who like him since he did a lot of hero work here. Not quite as much fame as Japan, but still.”

"He  _ loves  _ them." Inko corrected. "He wants to be a pro hero, and that notebook is his way of prepping for it. It's his 'hero analysis for the future', so he knows some things before he even takes a class. His room is also practically a shrine to All Might, so there's that too." He explained. 

Izuku grinned and nodded. "Yeah! He's the number one hero in Japan. He's my favorite. Super cool. Er…" He laughed and rubbed the back of his neck sheepishly. "I want to explain more but um… I definitely don't know all the words in English to do that. Um… but… are there any heroes you like?" 

Laura smiled softly. “That’s a very reasonable approach to take, writing notes on heroes. They’re very… passionate at that age.” SHe looked amused. “Cooper’s room is almost a shrine to the X-Men, so I know what you mean.”

Cooper’s eyes lit up. “I like the X-Men! They’re a group of superheros right here in New York! Professor X has a school for kids who want to get better control of their quirks. It’s a boarding school, and has regular academics too. Apparently the X-Men teach there, so they’re never far off if there’s trouble. My favorite is Beast. He’s super smart,  _ and _ super strong! He’s big with blue fur, and he can pick up and throw a  _ whole truck _ at the bad guys! Beast also teaches science and history, so that’s the other reason he’s my favorite.”

Izuku blinked, "I… feel like I've heard of them." He couldn't pinpoint  _ where  _ he'd heard of them though since he wasn't familiar with Beast. Professor X sounded familiar though, and Izuku knew he'd go nuts until he remembered where he'd heard of him from. "Beast sounds cool though! What does he look like? I haven't done much research into American heroes yet so I don't know."

"X-Men hm?" Inko replied with a small smile. "Sounds like Izuku will have something to research tonight." She joked. "They are  _ definitely _ passionate."

Getting even more excited, Cooper launched into talking more about Beast, “He’s, like, 7 feet tall, and he wears glasses and can hang upside-down from stuff! He’s usually the person who does like, interviews and stuff when the X-men are on the news, and he’s really, uh… ar-ar-.... He talks  _ really _ formal and proper.” Cooper explained, giving up on the word he couldn’t pronounce. “He even does lectures at like, colleges and stuff! I got to go see him once, he knows  _ so much _ about like, the history of quirks.”

Izuku took a moment to process everything Cooper was saying, though he nodded and grinned all the same. "History of quirks is  _ super  _ interesting to talk about. They came out of  _ nowhere. _ " He said excitedly back. "The chaos of it and seeing how the world tried to recover is really cool to look at." He grinned further, "It's super cool you got to see him though!"

Cooper practically  _ beamed _ . Right? I mean, if you count mutants like the X-Men then quirks have been around a lot longer than people think they have. They just started getting  _ called _ quirks when they became more common, once more people had them than didn’t. There’s such a wide variety, too, it’s almost weird. That was one of the things Beast was talking about people not knowing. Where all the diversity came from.”

Izuku nodded along. "Well, one of the things I've seen is people wondering if it was always there? Like… asleep. Or the quirks being mostly passive until just the right mixtures started happening." He added, "Like um… what if the people who claimed to be psychics had a quirk that let them do that? Or Merlin! What if his 'magic' was just a powerful quirk unlike anything anyone else had at that time?"

Cooper blinked at the idea of Merlin. “He might have even had multiple. Or maybe just an illusion quirk. Could also explain why nobody’s found Camelot.” He thought about it a bit more. “That might do it. Lotsa people say genetics are complicated, but a lot of it’s just luck, really.” He shrugged.

Izuku's face fell for a moment before he picked up his grin again, being reminded of his own bad luck in the genetics department and finding out he was apparently quirkless. Even if his dad told him he could be a hero, not having a quirk and the way people treated him for it still stung. "Luck that led to everything now, yeah. The way stuff mixes can be weird, and even then things that should mix don't sometimes."

Cooper blinked at the slight mood change, but shrugged it off for now. “It’s still a lotta luck. Like. If someone with a cancelling quirk mixes genetics with someone with some other quirk, it’s mostly luck whether the cancelling quirk passes on in a form that the next generation can  _ use _ , or if it turns on too soon and keeps whatever quirk they  _ would _ have had from turning on properly.” He pointed out.

At that point, JARVIS spoke up. “Sir asks that you let your mother know that his meeting is “wrapping up”, young Sir.” He kept his reminder in Japanese so his new friend wouldn’t understand it.

Izuku bit his lip and fidgeted slightly. He didn't know what kind of quirks his mother's family had but he had suspicions something like that could have happened to him. He was grateful for JARVIS cutting in though. "Okay, thanks Jarvis." He replied to the AI before looking back at Cooper, "My dad is going to meet us for lunch, so we have to go." He explained, "Um… it was nice to talk to you." He said hesitantly, unsure if he should ask about if they could contact each other somehow.

His brain's helpful reminder that he was quirkless, and the fact that his new friend didn't know he was made him nervous to ask properly. "Mom, Dad's meeting is wrapping up." Izuku informed her, getting a small nod from Inko.

"Okay. Let's finish up then and Jarvis can lead the way." Inko replied.

Cooper pouted slightly at his new friend needing to leave. “Hey, do you have like. Skype, or an email or something? Or even a phone number? You’re fun to talk to.” He asked, completely unashamed. It wasn’t often he met kids his age he actually  _ liked _ .

Izuku blinked. "Oh um… I have an email." He said hesitantly. One he only really used for online games and to get updates on the hero forums he started following, but he had one. Mainly so he didn't have to clog up his mom's email. He quickly pulled out his school notebook to write his email on and tear it out to give to Cooper. "There. So we can um… talk more. I- If you really want to." He said, his anxiousness really starting to hit him now that Cooper had suggested keeping in contact. 

Should he just rip the bandage off now and save time on getting rejected? Cooper seemed cool, and Izuku had a lot of fun talking to him but… it seemed too good to be true.

Cooper took the paper and tucked it in his pocket. He studied Izuku for a moment, confused. “You ‘kay?” He asked quietly.

Izuku took a deep breath, trying his best to not look like he was about to cry and get made fun of for that on top of being quirkless. "I… I just um…" He shifted his feet anxiously. "Y-You s-should know that I… um… well… I don't have a q-quirk." He said. "Please don't be mad…" He added almost silently. He'd had people get mad at him before for not telling them immediately. Like he should wear a sign that says "Quirkless person, do not interact" everywhere, even though he practically did without there being a literal sign.

Cooper blinked a few times, then shrugged. “You are? I am too.” He said, clearly confused as to why Izuku was basically apologizing. “So’s Mom. It’s not a big deal. Is it in Japan?” He asked, unsure as to why it  _ would _ be, but people were  _ weird _ .

Izuku froze for a moment, not expecting that at  _ all. _ "...oh." He said quietly, "Um… a-at least where I'm from, yeah." He explained, wrapping his arms lighty around himself. He'd gotten pushed around or avoided like he had the plague too often for it to  _ not  _ be a big deal. Izuku rubbed at his eyes, sniffling quietly before offering a small smile. "T-Talk to you soon then, Cooper."

Cooper nodded enthusiastically. "Yeah! Talk to you soon, Izuku!" He agreed. He headed over to his mom to find out what else they were doing.

Laura smiled, ruffling Cooper's hair. "Do you want to keep exploring the museum?"

Cooper grinned, "Yes please!"

Izuku headed back to his own mom, getting a gentle hug from her.

"You alright Izuku?" Inko asked, running her fingers through his hair.

Izuku nodded gently. "I'm okay. These are happy tears. Cooper is really nice. We're gonna email." He told her before looking down at his watch. "Jarvis? Could you direct us to where dad wanted to get pizza, please?" He requested.

"That's nice. I'm glad you made a friend Izu." Inko replied, taking his hand to hold as they started to leave the museum so he wouldn't get seperated from her.

JARVIS popped up a holographic map to the pizza place, a blue path popping up for the route they would need to take, and a red path for the route Tony was taking. “According to my calculations, the pair of you should arrive approximately five minutes before Sir.” JARVIS informed them.

"Okay! Thank you Jarvis." Izuku replied. He lifted the watch up a little more for Inko to see the path and they started their way there together through the crowded streets. Izuku stayed close to his mom as he could without hindering her walking, since his smaller size made it difficult to see as well as be seen by people walking by.

They followed the map all the way to the restaurant, and it was good they had Jarvis to guide them there because even with him they almost missed it. Inko was half expecting Tony to take them to some overpriced place with a line out the door, but instead they found a little hole in the wall pizzeria that actually didn't have all that many people in it. Though, Inko still had them sit down at one of the booths in the back corner that was out of view when you first entered just to be safe. Getting caught by the paparazzi wouldn't be a fun experience for any of them.

Tony met them at the restaurant about 5 minutes later, as JARVIS had predicted. He had reapplied his makeup, and had his hat and glasses. He sat with them with a grin. “Did you guys have fun at the museum?”

Izuku grinned and nodded. "I took a bunch more notes in both my notebooks,  _ and  _ I made a friend." He told him happily. "His name's Cooper and he's  _ super  _ cool. He likes history a lot."

Tony grinned. “You did, huh? You’ll have to tell me more about it. But first… what kind of pizza do you want to try?” He looked at Inko and Izuku questioningly. “This place has pretty amazing pizza, no matter what kind.”

"Um…" Izuku paused to think, before looking to his mom for help.

"Do you want to try something new with the toppings too? Or just something you've had before New York style." Inko asked.

"Um… New. It's an adventure right?" Izuku replied.

Inko nodded and looked to Tony. "He's only really had pepperoni and sausage on a pizza before. So, anything else is game right now. And I'm not picky so… got a favorite here?" Inko asked, "I'll tell you if Izu would eat it."

Tony thought for a second. “Hmm. Hawaiian pizza, maybe? It’s got ham and pineapple on it. We could add green pepper or bacon?” He suggested. “It’s pretty good, as long as you don’t mind the taste of baked pineapple.”

"That sounds good to me. You good with that Izu?"

Izuku nodded. "I'll try it. Pepper sounds good too." He replied, kicking his feet a bit under the table.

Tony nodded, glancing up at the counter. “Ham, pineapple and green peppers. Got it. What to drink?” He asked. “I don’t know if they have tea here, but the lemonade is pretty good.” He offered as a suggestion.

Izuku's eyes lit up. "Lemonade?"

Inko laughed, "If you'd like some lemonade you can have it Izuku." She looked at Tony again, "I'll just have some water."

Izuku nodded quickly, "Lemonade please!"

Tony snickered, before getting up to go place their order at the counter. When he came back, he carried three glasses, two lemonades and a water, and set all three down before sitting. “So tell me about this new friend, Izuku.”

"I met him when we went to the Nazi exhibit after you left. I couldn't read some of the words and mama was taking a break on a bench so I asked him." Izuku explained. "He was really nice about it and helped me get the words. We started talking about stuff we knew was missing from what the exhibits said too. So we talked about quirks a bit, and he told me more about vibranium and Wakanda. Which, we think they might hide a bigger city with holograms? Since they know how to use it, they can't just be a simple village. He told me about some new heroes too." Izuku rambled. "There's these people called the X-Men? His favorite is Beast. I wanna look them up later."

Tony mulled over the idea about Wakanda. “It’s definitely worth looking into.” He admitted, considering it further. “There’s very little we really know about vibranium. They could do just about anything with it, all things considered.” He grinned. “The X-Men, huh? They’re pretty good.” He noted. “They work out of a school, like the hero school you and Kaede want to go to.”

"That's what he was saying!" Izuku replied excitedly, "Which is  _ super  _ cool. He said it's run by Professor X, and… I think I've heard of him but I can't remember from where which is  _ really  _ annoying because it's not because if the X-Men so it has to be from something else." He explained before blinking and turning to open and go through his bag, remembering he wanted to ask Tony about the symbol he'd seen in the blurry picture.

Tony shrugged. “I’m not sure where else you might have heard about him.” He watched Izuku go through his bag. “Take some interesting notes?” He asked, admittedly curious as to what he was looking through his bag for.

Izuku nodded, "Yeah. And there's one thing I wanted to ask you about that I found." He replied, pulling out one of his notebooks and flipping to the part where he'd drawn the symbol. "This was just in one of the pictures they had, and it was blurry so I don't know that I drew it properly? But there wasn't any mention or reference to it. And Cooper said he didn't know either." He said, turning the notebook around for him to take a look. "It looks like an octopus with a skull head. So it's super weird."

Tony studied the drawing for a minute. “Can’t say I recognize it. It was in a picture in the Nazi exhibit, you said?” He looked thoughtful. “Let J scan the picture, see if he pulls anything up.” He suggested.

Izuku blinked, "Oh, I didn't even think of that." He looked down at his watch then back up at Tony. "How do I show it to him..?" He asked, holding the hand with the watch on it out to him.

Tony blinked. “JARVIS, scan that drawing, see what pops up.” 

JARVIS popped up the holographic screen. “Indeed, Sir.” He addressed Izuku next. “Young Sir please position the holo-screen over the drawing.” He instructed, ready to scan the image.

Izuku nodded and did as Jarvis asked, positioning the holo-screen over the drawing as requested. "Sorry if it's a bit too scribbly Jarvis."

If a bodiless AI could roll its eyes, that’s definitely what JARVIS would be doing. “I’ll be able to clear the image up once I’ve scanned it, I’m sure.” He noted dryly, before scanning the image in question.

After a moment, Tony prompted. “Anything, J?”

JARVIS replied in the negative. “Nothing in any public databases seems to match.”

"I'm not the best at drawing though... so that could be it? The picture was  _ super  _ blurry too. I don't know if I drew it even close to right.." Izuku said with a small sigh. "Thanks for trying though, Jarvis."

Tony caught JARVIS’ specific word use, but didn’t comment on it. “It was a good catch, kiddo. I’m sure not many people even notice that sort of thing.” He praised, definitely planning on looking into what  _ else _ Jarvis had found that he wasn’t disclosing around here.

Izuku smiled slightly as he pulled his notebook back to put it away again. "I mean… um… yeah, I guess." He said, scrunching his shoulders up slightly. "I  _ was _ looking specifically for that kind of thing though. Like… little things they gloss over or holes left in the story."

"Most people still don't bother looking for that sort of thing Izu." Inko gently pointed out, starting to run her fingers through Izuku's curls. "You're curious though. And smarter than even some adults. Which isn't a bad thing."

Izuku started to blush, his shoulders getting closer to his ears. "I'm… I'm not  _ that _ smart mama."

Tony hummed, ruffling Izuku’s hair where Inko’s hand wasn’t. “Your mom is right. Not a lot of people look for that stuff.” He noted. “And you are definitely a smart kid. You see a lot of things and patterns most don’t.”

"It's just… obvious to me though." Izuku muttered. He met Tony's eyes for a moment before staring pointedly at the table.

Inko, realizing Izuku probably was getting a bit overwhelmed with the praise and attention, placed a gentle kiss in Izuku's hair before looking at Tony. "So, how was your meeting? Were you able to get there on time?"

Tony snickered at Izuku’s embarrassment. He looked over at Inko. “I did, which startled Obie.” He said with a laugh. “I usually skip those meetings altogether. This time, I had a reason to actually  _ go _ .” He teased.

Inko smiled and shook her head. "Obie is… Obadiah Stane right? I can't remember if I ever met him. How is he doing?"

Tony paused in answering as their pizza was brought out and set at their table, before nodding. “That would be him. He’s… still irritated about weapons production being closed down, but he’ll live.” He noted, somewhat amused, but still also irritated.

"People seem to forget your company started with weapons, but always made more than just that huh?" Inko noted. "Like the phones, watches, all the other smaller things that a lot of people use. It's always been a tech company one way or another." 

Izuku took a sip of his lemonade, slightly leaning into Inko. He was hungry, but he knew the pizza would probably need to cool a bit. Plus he couldn't reach it himself at the moment anyway.

Tony nodded. “That they do.” He agreed. He got a slice of pizza out and put it on a plate within Izuku’s reach. “Give it a minute to cool, kiddo.” He cautioned, before grabbing a slice for himself and setting it on a plate.

Inko grabbed herself a slice and put it on her plate. "Without the weapons there's obviously going to be a drop in income without the military funding, but it's a large profitable company so… is it actually going to affect you all that much during the transition?" She asked.

Izuku gently nodded to Tony, staying quiet for the moment. Though he'd visibly relaxed and his blush had gone down. 

Tony hummed, shaking his head. “Not as much as anyone’s saying. Sure the stocks dropped, but it was within predictable ranges.” He explained easily. “They’ll jump back. Though my board isn’t quite so certain. They have approximately no math skills, though, so.”

Inko snorted. "Yes well, they could also be listening too much to the media coverage on it. If you pay attention the people complaining the most are the ones that supposedly  _ wanted _ you to stop working with the military." She shrugged. "I'm sure it'll turn out fine. It's not like you suddenly decided to be a bakery or anything ridiculous like that, you just stopped producing part of what you previously did."

Tony snickered at Inko’s remark. “People like that are never happy, really. Especially if they work in the media. They can’t complain we’re laying people off, either, since that’s the first thing I made sure wouldn’t happen.” He shrugged, before cackling at the idea of being a bakery. “Now there’s an idea. Maybe add a food pantry or something as a charity outreach…” he muttered, considering. “That would shut up the media for a day or two.” He blinked rapidly, filing the idea away for later. He took a bite of pizza while he considered the logistics of that idea.

Inko laughed alongside Tony, "I was  _ joking _ , I didn't think you'd actually consider that. Doing something like that as a charity outreach isn't a bad idea though." She admitted.

Izuku picked up his own pizza, now that it had cooled down plenty for him to eat. He hummed happily and ate a little bit. "This is really yummy!" He cheered, "Thanks for bringing us, Dad."

Tony shrugged. “Any idea can be a good one. Especially when it could work.” He smiled at Izuku enjoying the pizza. “Glad you like it, kid.” He answered, tempted to ruffle his hair, but refraining since they were eating.


	3. Chapter 3

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Izuku visits Tony's mansion along with Masaru and Kaede.

/// August 25th, 2009

Before they left, Tony made sure to extend an open invitation for Izuku to visit him in California any time he wanted, even if Inko couldn’t get off work. He’d send the jet for him and everything, they just had to let him know when he wanted to visit.

Since he normally spent most of his days either in his workshop or being nagged by various people (Pepper and the board being the main offenders), a visit would be a welcome break.

Ironically enough, Masaru had a trip to California planned himself close to the end of their summer break. This meant that Kaede was clingier than usual with her father, in preparation for him being gone for about a week.

Izuku was itching for another chance to see his dad before he had to go back to school. And after hearing that Masaru had a trip coming up to California, he asked where exactly he'd be going since there was a chance if Masaru's business was nearby he'd get to take Kaede with him to go see his dad's Malibu house.

He was pretty sure Kaede already had a passport too, since she'd gone on a business trip with Masaru at least once before. So… after asking Tony if he'd even be okay with that in the first place he tried arranging things with Masaru.

Masaru was fine with bringing Kaede along, especially after finding out why Izuku would be going. He knew that would cheer both of them up, especially since Kaede  _ hated _ being left alone with her mother. It always resulted in a fight of some kind that Masaru would invariably have to deal with the fallout from when he got back.

Kaede did indeed have a passport, and practically jumped at the chance to go. Not only would she get to spend time with her dad and Izuku, but her mom  _ wouldn’t be there _ .

With everything set up, Izuku said goodbye to his mom before he went on his first longer trip without her, and set off with Masaru and Kaede to California. They didn't even have to deal with the airport much, seeing as Tony sent his jet. Izuku was able to relax comfortably (and most importantly sleep on the jet) before they arrived in California. 

Izuku woke up only a half hour before the plane landed and was energized and ready to go and do whatever he could with his Dad during the visit.

Kaede was fascinated by almost everything on the jet, having never been on a private plane before. She ran about, exploring as much of it as she was allowed to. Finally, when she was satisfied she’d seen everything, she curled up in the seat next to Izuku to take a nap of her own.

Masaru had been planning on getting a hotel room, not wanting to impose on Tony, but when he found out, he’d insisted he had plenty of space and that it was fine if they stayed too. Plus it would likely also help Inko relax a bit. 

Tony had been mid conference-call when Happy left to get them, so he wasn’t in the car when they arrived at the airport. He listened for the car to return, though, so he could go greet them.

Izuku bounced about when the car arrived with Happy, and after checking with Jarvis to make sure Happy actually was who was supposed to be picking them up. Happy seemed nice and trustworthy enough to Izuku, though he still referred to his dad as Tony around him for the moment to be safe.

Kaede pounced on Izuku as soon as they were off the plane, happy to see her friend so happy. It was vaguely disappointing that his dad didn’t meet them at the airport, but Masaru didn’t seem bothered, so she didn’t let it bother her either.

Happy packed their luggage in the trunk while they got settled in the backseat of the car. Once they were ready, he drove them back to the mansion.

Izuku giggled at Kaede and pulled away enough to get into the car so they could get going. He sat next to Kaede and gently leaned into her for most of the trip, though once he caught a glimpse of the mansion he pulled away to lean towards the window, gasping softly. " _ That's _ Tony's  _ house?  _ It's so  _ big." _

Kadede joined him in staring out the window when the mansion came into view, with Happy confirming that that was, indeed, the mansion they were heading to. “Think of the games of hide and seek we could play there!” She offered, impressed.

Masaru blinked. “I see why he insisted he had room,” he noted, which got a snort out of Happy.

“Mr. Stark has more space than he knows what to do with half the time.” He agreed.

Izuku nodded, "It seems like there would be almost too many hiding spots to use." He agreed. "Especially if there's vents." He paused, looking back at Masaru as he remembered he was there before looking back towards the mansion trying to pretend he never mentioned crawling in vents.

Masaru raised an eyebrow at Izuku’s mention of vents. “I think we’re going to have to declare those out of bounds for hiding until we can be sure neither of you are going to get stuck in them.” He said mildly, but not commenting further than that.

Kaede accepted that decision quietly, but squinted at Izuku bringing up vents. She poked him on the cheek, raising an eyebrow.

Izuku smiled sheepishly, shrugging slightly in a silent apology towards Kaede before looking back towards the mansion as they pulled up. He barely remembered they had to wait for the car to make a  _ full _ stop before unbuckling and opening the door so he could hop in place excitedly. Up close the building somehow seemed even  _ bigger. _

Kaede frowned, continuing to (literally) poke Izuku for an answer as she followed him out of the car. She was curious now, and wasn’t about to let it drop.

Even if Tony hadn’t heard the car pulling up, JARVIS let him know that his guests had arrived. He bowed out of the call he was on with the excuse that these guests were people he needed to speak with. The idea of a charity outreach had started as a joke, but it was turning out to be a very promising project after all. He stepped into the foyer just as Happy was helping to bring the bags inside.

Izuku leaned away from Kaede's poking, " _ Sorry _ I forgot Uncle Masaru was here for a second. Stop  _ poking _ ." He requested before lighting up with a bright smile seeing his dad there. He waved at him. "Hi Tony!" 

Kaede snickered, poking Izuku one last time before they saw Tony. She could probably guess why he was interested in the vents, she just felt like bugging her friend.

Tony smiled when he saw them, waving back to Izuku. “Hey kiddo.” He greeted. “Why don’t we get you three settled, then we can order some lunch, and maybe hit the beach?” He suggested.

"Okay!" Izuku replied excitedly. "Beach sounds fun. Mama packed my suit for me too just incase so I have my stuff." He hopped over towards the entrance to the house, smiling at Happy. "Thanks for grabbing that for us, Happy."

Happy smiled back at the child, nodding in acknowledgement before leaving again.

Tony was quick to reassure Izuku. “It’s not you, Happy’s… not the most talkative guy.” He looked to Masaru. “Anywhere you need to be today?”

Masaru checked the time. “Just a dinner conference, around 7, but I think I might take a nap until then. Jetlag hits me a bit harder than it used to.” He joked.

Tony snickered, picking up the kids bags and showing them to the bedrooms that were set up for them. Masaru had his own, but he’d set up one for the kids to share, “since I know you two rascals will just end up in the same room anyway eventually.”

Izuku giggled before nodding in agreement. "We'd find a way, even if you tried to stop us." He blinked at the size of the room. "Your rooms are like the size of my  _ house _ ." He tilted his head at Tony, "You live in this big a place alone?"

Tony nodded, setting the bags down inside the door. “Well, not entirely alone. I have JARVIS with me, after all.” He responded, grinning. He ruffled both of their hair, stepping out of the room. “What sounds good for lunch? Or do you want to pick from the stack of takeout menus I’ve collected?” He asked.

Kaede tilted her head. “A stack of menus? Did Izuku get his inability to cook from you, then?”

Izuku gently shoved Kaede with his shoulder. " _ Kacchan, _ don't be mean. It's not like I start fires on  _ purpose. _ " He said with a pout. He looked up at Tony, "Looking at the menus is okay."

Kaede snickered. “Wasn’t being  _ mean _ .” She responded, shoulder-bumping him back.

Tony rolled his eyes fondly. “Alright, I’ll let you guys change into beach stuff, then meet me back downstairs and we can decide on food, okay?” He offered. “There’s a bathroom attached to your room if you need it. That door there.” He pointed at it, before turning to go downstairs.

Kaede grabbed her bag, picking a spot of open floor away from doorways to open it and look for her swimsuit.

Izuku nodded gently. "Okay Dad." He blinked at the door. "We get  _ our own bathroom?"  _ He asked, more to the air than anything else and scurried over to take a look inside while Kaede got her suit.

Kaede cackled at Izuku’s reaction. “Yeah, we do. ‘Zuku your dad is  _ super rich _ .” She noted, still sounding slightly stunned. Her amusement faded when she saw the frilly suit her mother had packed. “Can we… skip the beach…?” She asked, staring dejectedly at it.

Izuku turned back to look at Kaede's suit and grimaced. "Your mom  _ knows  _ you don't like frilly things. Why does she keep buying stuff you won't wear?" He asked, approaching to take a closer look. "It's not too poofy… you could wear a shirt over it?" He suggested. "I don't think the water would hurt any of your clothes."

Katsuki made a face, looking for a shirt she could wear over it. She found one, thankfully. It was black, which she would probably regret later, but at least it wouldn’t show the suit when it got wet. She looked over at Izuku. “I’m gonna go change in the bathroom.” She said simply, before going to do just that.

Izuku nodded and went over to his own bag while Kaede got changed and grabbed his swim trunks and a tank top his mom got him. It would be hot at the beach so he thought that would be best, instead of the normal shirts he wore usually. He then waited patiently for his turn to change.

Kaede dressed quickly, coming out with only the bottom of her frilly swimsuit showing under the shirt. She still didn’t look happy, but she didn’t say anything, instead hopping up on the bed to wait for Izuku to change.

JARVIS spoke up from the ceiling of the room. “Young Miss, is something wrong? You seem much less cheerful, suddenly.”

Kaede blinked, staring up at the ceiling for a moment before shrugging. “It’s nothing.” She answered.

Izuku went to the bathroom to change, finishing quickly, but pausing at the door when he heard Jarvis speak. He'd wait a moment, so not to barge in on their conversation.

JARVIS didn’t buy that for a second. “If it’s about the swimsuit, I can order one to be delivered that’s a bit less girly?” He offered.

Kaede blinked rapidly. “I’d… have to ask dad, and I’m pretty sure he’s sleeping.”

JARVIS responded quickly. “Not to worry, I will inform your father when he wakes up.” He promised.

Kaede hesitated. “I… I’d like that. Thanks JARVIS.” She admitted shyly.

“Indeed, miss. I think green would look much better, what do you think?”   
  
Kaede’s eyes lit up. “Green’s my favorite!”   
JARVIS replied, “is it? Then I shall make a note of that.”

Izuku gently opened the door, "What's going on?" He asked. Eavesdropping was rude, so he'd just pretend he never heard anything if Kaede or Jarvis didn't want to say. 

Kaede blinked at Izuku, visibly much happier now. “JARVIS offered to order me another swimsuit? And tell dad when he woke up. So I don’t have to wear this frilly thing mom packed.” Being only six, she didn’t 100% understand how money and ordering things worked, but it was an excuse to not wear her mother’s stupid idea of a “cute” suit, so she was all for it.

"Oh! Okay. Thank you Jarvis!" Izuku said cheerily before hopping towards the door. "Let's go look at food to figure out what to eat while we wait for that."

Kaede nodded excitedly, hopping down from the bed and following Izuku. She was excited to see what this “stack of menus” entailed. Hopefully she could get something spicy.

As they approached the stairs, JARVIS spoke up from Izuku’s watch. “You both may want to wait upstairs for just a moment longer.” From the PA, he said, “Sir, Mister Stane just pulled into the driveway unannounced.” It was fairly clear from Jarvis’ tone that he wasn’t overly fond of this new visitor.

Izuku blinked at the alert from Jarvis on his watch before nodding slightly. "Okay Jarvis." He turned to Kaede, "Let's explore up here? And try to be sneaky. Stealth mission so Dad's guest doesn't hear us." He said, stepping away from the stairs in a way that made the least amount of sound he could.

Kaede blinked at JARVIS’ warning, and nodded, walking as quietly as possible after Izuku. She wasn’t sure who this person was, but it was easy to tell JARVIS didn’t like him, and there had to be a reason for that.

Tony glanced over at the stairs. Upon not seeing the kids, he breathed a sigh of relief before plastering what Rhodey dubbed his ‘media smile’ on. This was likely going to be about him actually attending the board meeting, he was fairly sure. It wasn’t necessarily out of character for him to attend, but he usually only did if he had new toys to present. He hadn’t this time, which he was sure had disappointed some of them.

Obadiah walked into the mansion with a smile on his face. "Tony! Sorry for the unannounced visit, I just got back and thought I'd stop by to talk face to face. Haven't really talked since the board meeting." He said, "It was a big surprise seeing you there, on time no less. Is that going to be a regular thing now?"

Tony mentally cursed the day JARVIS had figured out he could open doors without permission, before turning to Obadiah. “Hey Obie!” He greeted, just like he always did. “Yeah, it’s been a minute, hasn’t it?” He made a show of looking innocently confused by his question about the board meetings. “It might be. I like to change things up occasionally, you know that,” he pointed out. “Why, got some nefarious plan with the board you don’t want me to know about?”

"Well, if I don't have to buy time for an hour waiting for you to be 'fashionably late' anymore I'll take it." Obadiah replied before rolling his eyes. "Nefarious plan? What am I a comic book villain? No, I just wanted to know if I should actually expect you to show up once in a while." 

Tony shrugged carelessly. “Well, it does seem like the most interesting thing that happened at that meeting was me actually showing up to it, which... isn’t really much of an incentive to make my way out to New York once a month.” He responded, glancing briefly over at the older man to gauge his reaction. “So did you see my message about the charity idea?”

Obadiah sighed, "It may be boring but we're supposed to go to help keep the business afloat, Tony. It's  _ business _ , we're here for the money not to have fun." He paused before nodding. "I did. If anything it'll help bring up public opinion again, but I'm not entirely sure adding a money drain when we're losing our biggest financial supporters by stopping weapons manufacturing is the smartest play. If we kept up with the weapons maybe but..."

Tony snorted. “That’s funny. I was under the impression that business had more than doubled since I decided to start dabbling in technology and letting SI sell it.” He countered. “Besides, we still sell stuff like body armor to the military. And as much  _ fun _ as it was designing guns that could blow through that, and then defenses against  _ those _ , that got old after about... the third time. You can only poke so many holes in a thing before you get tired of looking at it.” He shrugged. “The motherboards are more interesting than the case they get put in anyway. Always have been.”

"Body armor isn't really what they want. You know that." Obadiah countered before rubbing his temples. "Expanding out boosted business, yes. But SI was founded on weapons manufacturing. And now you want us to be a weapons company that doesn't make weapons." He sighed again, "You're having fun with the motherboards, which is good for you, but you've got to give me  _ something  _ to work with here, Tony. You could still let me have the techs look at that." He said, pointing towards Tony's chest.

“What’s the saying? You can’t always get what you want?” Tony shrugged. “Don’t blame me, blame the great philosopher Mick Jagger.” He gave Obie a side-eye. “I gave the board some new toys between the last board meeting and the one before that, and haven’t heard a single peep about them. There’s your something."

"You know, that’s also the media’s favorite line. But even during the height of World War Two, under dad, Stark Industries  _ never _ just made weapons. The company was diverse then, I just closed down the branch we’re demonized for.” He shrugged, then raised an eyebrow at the pointed finger at his arc reactor. “Nuh-uh. Trade secret. There’s a big version of it at company HQ.” He responded.

"I'm aware. And even though you managed to make  _ that  _ in a cave, based on our science tech's current abilities I don't think they'd get the picture without a reference." Obadiah replied. "There's a reason almost all our new tech and advancements come from you. Stark Industries wouldn't work without a Stark at the reigns to make things run. Your father knew that, which is why he set you up to run it as soon as you were old enough."

“You realise that’s mostly because I don’t listen when you tell me not to do something, right?” Tony countered. “I’m sure our techs could come up with some creative, out of the box ideas- in fact I’ve seen some of them do it- but both you and the board throw out anything too far outside the mainstream before it can even get off the ground. There’s hardly a point in hiring the smartest people if you’re just going to order them to copy what’s already been done. That’s what automation is for.” He rolled his eyes. “You’re so fixated on things that go boom I wonder if you’ve even noticed that it’s been  _ decades _ since that section brought in even a quarter of the profit a single release of Starkphones does.”

Obadiah huffed, "I'm just trying to keep SI on the path your father laid out, Tony. Last thing I want is for this company to crash." He startled slightly as there was the sound of something crashing onto the floor and breaking upstairs. He raised an eyebrow at Tony, "Is someone else here?"

Kaede made a slightly panicked noise when the vase fell, shooing Izuku away from the scene and into a nearby room before checking him for any injuries, just in case this new person came to investigate.

Tony made an exaggerated point of rolling his eyes. “I’m pretty sure I pointed out, not even five minutes ago, that even during the height of a  _ world war _ , the company under my father sold more than just weapons. What, exactly, is your fixation with them? If you want the company to prosper, weapons is the wrong way to go about it, as I also pointed out less than five minutes ago.” Tony heard the crash, but kept talking to mask his worry over what had happened. He brushed it off, at least verbally. “Oh, probably just last night’s houseguest getting a bit lost.” He responded with his ‘Playboy grin’. “JARVIS, keep an eye on them would you?”

If an AI could sound affronted, that’s about where Tony would place the response he got. “Already on it, Sir.”

Obadiah sighed, "Of course… I'd hope Jarvis is keeping them from snooping in SI business then. Don't you usually have Pepper or someone shoo them out by now? Or is this one special." 

Izuku had tears come to his eyes the moment the vase broke, not because he'd gotten hurt, but because he'd broken something of Tony's. "I-I'm okay K-Kacchan. 'M not hurt." He whispered, looking in the direction where he'd broken the vase. "I… I d-didn't mean to. I-Is he gonna be mad at me?"

Tony gave Obie the best deadpan look he could manage. “Right. Because I would totally leave something having to do with sensitive information about the company  _ I run _ where  _ just anyone _ could see it.” He remarked dryly. “Was there anything else, or can I finish ordering lunch for myself and my guest?” He asked, gesturing to the stack of menus he’d been going through when the man walked in.

Once Kaede was satisfied Izuku wasn’t hurt, she pulled him into a hug. “Good.” She said. “You can be so clumsy sometimes, ‘Zuku.” She noted. “Was an accident. I don’t think he’ll be mad.” She assured him. She wasn’t completely sure, but she looked up at the ceiling to back her up. “Right, JARVIS?” SHe asked.

Jarvis responded from Izuku’s watch, to lower the possibility of Stane hearing. “As long as you both are unhurt, no, Sir will not be upset. He has likely forgotten he ever  _ owned _ that particular vase.”

"You're not the only one that's good with tech Tony. I wasn't saying they're just anyone." Obadiah said simply before starting to turn and head towards the door. "I'll leave you to it. Wouldn't want to ruin your chances of finding your Maria." 

Izuku hugged Kaede back, letting himself cry quietly. "I-It was still  _ his  _ though. Getting your stuff broken isn't nice." He sniffled. "I d-didn't think I was close enough to bump it."

Tony rolled his eyes. “Aunt Peggy would always tell Dad if he was that careless, he deserved it. I would imagine the same applies to me.” He noted, starting for the stairs, presumably to check on his “guest”.

Kaede snuggled Izuku calmly. “It wasn’t on purpose.” She reminded him. “Accidents happen.”

Obadiah calmly left the building, heading back to his car presumably to drive away. Though he sat there for a few moments to call someone first.

Izuku took a few breaths. "I… y-yeah… I just… I'm clumsy. It happens a lot…" He muttered.

Tony waited until he heard the door close, before heading upstairs. “Kids?”   
  
JARVIS directed him to the correct room.

Tony eyed the broken vase. “J, can you have one of the bots come clean that up?” He asked, before stepping into the room. “You two okay?”

Izuku pulled back from Kaede to rub his eyes and nod gently to Tony. "We're okay. We didn't g-get hurt. I bumped it on accident. I'm  _ really  _ s-sorry, Dad."

Tony pulled them both into a hug, earning a startled noise from the blonde child. “Hey, don’t worry about it, kid. Broken things are replaceable. You’re not.” He said gently. “As long as you two are okay, we’re good.”

Izuku leaned into the hug, nodding gently. "Okay Dad." He replied. "I'm still sorry though. Do um… do you need help cleaning it up?"

Tony heard the sounds of the bots rolling down the hallway. He blinked at Izuku’s offer to help. “Do you want to go supervise the bots doing cleanup?” He offered instead. The last thing he wanted was Izuku cutting his hand on pieces of the vase.

Kaede waited for Izuku to decide, hesitating. Tony had more than proven that he cared about Izuku, maybe it was time to tell him.

Izuku nodded again. "Yeah. I can do that. I don't want anyone to step on it. It broke into a lot of little pieces." He stepped back so he could go back into the hall, treading carefully since he didn't know exactly how far everything had spread. "They'll probably do good. I'll just help make sure."

Tony nodded, releasing both children. Before he could stand, Kaede grabbed his sleeve. He looked over at her. She seemed very uncertain, which Tony could already tell was highly unusual. “Something wrong?”

Kaede shook her head… then nodded. “‘Zuku made me promise not to tell Aunty… but Aunty’s not here…”

Izuku went over and crouched down to watch the robots clean up the mess he made. He let them do their own thing mostly, seeing as they were good at their job, but gently pointed out a few very tiny almost unnoticeable shards that they missed as they worked.

The bots chirped in greeting when they registered Izuku, pausing momentarily to study the small child they’d never encountered before. They responded to Izuku pointing out shards, cleaning them up quickly.

Kaede quickly told Tony about other kids being mean to Izuku, and how he would use Aunty Inko’s concealer to hide it. She still felt awful since she’d only been able to help by teaching him how to hide the marks better. She didn’t really think that counted as ‘helping’, though.

Tony thanked her for telling him, and ushered her out into the hallway. He waited for Izuku to be done assisting the bots before saying anything. “Hey kid… you didn’t happen to bring any concealer on this trip with you, did you?”

Izuku tensed slightly before turning to look at Tony. "No?" He replied, lightly rubbing his arm. "I don't have any. When I use it it's from mama's makeup. She lets me use it… why?"

Tony knelt down to be closer to Izuku’s level. “Does she know what you use it  _ on _ ?” He pressed. He didn’t doubt Kaede, but confirmation couldn’t hurt.

Kaede stood nearby. She knew Izuku would be upset she told, but  _ someone _ needed to know. Someone who could  _ do something _ . It wasn’t okay for Izuku to be hurt by  _ anyone _ . She knew he’d understand eventually, even if he might not immediately forgive her.

"N-No…" Izuku replied, avoiding eye contact with Tony. He looked at Kaede, feeling more than a little betrayed. "Kacchan you promised…" He muttered.

Tony raised an eyebrow. “Why don’t you want her to know?” He asked, still keeping his voice gentle.

Kaede crossed her arms. “I promised I wouldn’t tell  _ Aunty _ . An’ I didn’t.” She countered. “Someone who can  _ do _ somethin’ needs to know, ‘Zuku. What they’re doing isn’t nice. If you won’t stop ‘em, or let me do it, then someone’s gotta.”

"I… I don't like making Mom worried. 'Sides it's not a big deal really… T-The other kids just um…" Izuku replied, dropping his gaze fully to the floor. "They don't know how not to be rough with me is all. 'Cuz I'm quirkless." He said, parroting what he'd heard from adults when he tried to say something in the past.

Tony exhaled slowly, trying to stay calm. The fact that someone had  _ excused _ bullying  _ to Izuku’s face _ by saying that… it made him extremely angry to hear. He tried to keep his anger inside, so as not to alarm either of the children, but he wasn’t sure how successful he was. “That’s bu-- not right.” He managed. “If they can play appropriately with other children with quirks, they can damn well figure it out with you. It’s simply that all the adults around them are too damn lazy to make them do it. Those are piss-poor examples of teachers if they can’t figure out that much.” Tony tried to rein in his emotions, but it was like a floodgate. They didn’t want to listen. “It doesn’t matter if you have a quirk or not, that kind of behavior from them isn’t acceptable, nor should it be.”

Izuku tensed up sensing Tony's anger, even if it wasn't directed at him. He heard the words, but with how it conflicted with what he'd already learned from multiple adults it didn't quite process fully yet. He swallowed thickly and managed to force himself to look up at Tony, teary eyed. "A-am… Am I in trouble?" He asked. 

He didn't like the fact that he'd made his Dad mad one bit. And in his mind,  _ he _ was why Tony was mad. Izuku was the one to say the words that made him upset, even if he'd just copied what other adults had said.

Tony’s anger melted away in the face of Izuku’s reaction. He pulled the boy into a hug. “No, kid, it’s not your fault. You don’t need to be upset. It’s the people who  _ told _ you that that I’m angry at, not you. They should never have let that happen, much less  _ excused _ it. They were wrong.” He rubbed Izuku’s back gently. “You’re not in trouble.”

Izuku relaxed noticeably at getting pulled into a hug. "O-Okay…" He said shakily. "I'm s-sorry I didn't tell you." He looked up towards the ceiling, still letting Tony hold him. " 'M sorry to you too Jarvis. I… I didn't want to worry you either." He said before tucking his head back against Tony.

Kaede grinned at Izuku relaxing. Maybe this would reinforce what she’d been saying about them being mean, hearing his  _ dad _ agreeing.

Tony let him stay there for as long as he wanted to. “The important thing is that I know now, and can do something about it.” He said calmly, the rest of his rage being saved for later. He planned on getting the school’s contact information from Inko, and then including her on a conference call to rip their administrator a new one.

Izuku nodded gently. He stayed there for a few moments before pulling back a bit. "Um… d-does that mean you're going to help make it stop?" He asked quietly. "I um… I got some to stop myself 'cause they were just trying to… get r-reactions, I think?" He admitted, "But it um… didn't really work for the others."

Tony nodded in reply. “Yes, I’m going to make it stop. But that means if it doesn’t, or gets worse, you need to tell me, okay? Don’t hide it anymore.” He looked Izuku in the eyes. “I need you to promise you’ll say something from now on, okay? Even if it’s to JARVIS or to Kaede. We all want to help you.”

Izuku hesitated for a moment, but kept Tony's gaze. Eventually he nodded, "Okay. I promise."

Tony grinned. “Good.” He ruffled Izuku’s hair. “Now, I think we were going to decide on what to have for lunch.” He said, in an attempt to change the subject. “While we’re waiting for that swimsuit to be delivered, of course.”

Izuku smiled slightly at the hair ruffling. He was sure adults doing that all the time was part of why it was such a monster to try and brush, but he loved it so he wasn't about to protest. He nodded, "Okay! You had a lot of options it looked like too. I already know what Kacchan wants though." He said, turing his smile on Kaede. Even though he was still a bit upset at her for telling Tony, he knew she just wanted to protect him like she always did. "Something spicy for her."

Tony snorted. “Yeah, there’s a lot of options.” He agreed, leading the way downstairs. “Something spicy, huh? I think we can figure something out.”


	4. Chapter 4

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Izuku takes a day to visit his dad, and someone else stops by as well...

/// September 20th, 2009

Izuku's trip before the end of the summer went well, though by the end of the week he had definitely been missing his mom and her daily hugs. 

He got wrapped in a big hug when he returned. Both because Inko had missed him just as much, and because she wanted to start making up for not realising her child had been getting bullied. When school started again, his elementary school seemed a lot more attentive to making sure he wasn't getting picked on. The other students, much to their confusion, actually got in trouble when they hurt him in front of a teacher.

It didn't stop the bullying entirely though. Some of them just figured out to get him after school when teachers weren't around. But, true to his word, Izuku didn't hide the scrapes and bruises. At least from Jarvis and Kaede. He was still nervous to tell his mom directly and worry her or make her upset.

One of his classmate's after hearing that  _ he  _ got to go to the US and see New York and California with his Dad, ended up giving him a pretty good black eye after trying to convince everyone he was lying. When that didn't work, because he had proof through a couple small pins he'd gotten from there, the kid had punched him after school for making  _ them  _ seem like a liar.

It had happened earlier in the week, so it was thankfully healing fairly well by the time the long weekend break he had rolled around. After everything he wanted to take another short trip to see his dad, even if he'd really only get one day.

According to Jarvis, his dad had been  _ super  _ stressed lately (though he wouldn't specify why, which told Izuku it had something to do with SI), but him coming over would be welcome to give him a chance to relax.

If Tony hadn’t previously suspected Obadiah of being up to something, he sure as hell did now. The board had tried to file an injunction against him, which, as the majority shareholder, he could (and had) easily overturned. Talking privately with members of the board had confirmed to him that, not only had Stane brought up the idea, but he’d also pushed it heavily, and in many cases, even threatened blackmail/their careers. Tony had privately assured each of them he’d deal with it.

Despite his occasional low opinion of most people, the board had come around fairly quickly about the weapons thing when not only did stocks drop much less than they feared at the closing of the weapons sector, but they’d bounced back fairly quickly and even higher than they’d predicted. Of course, the charity outreach had had quite a bit to do with that, but they were mostly content that it had happened. So when Stane pulled whatever he was trying with the injunction, none of them had been nearly as for it as he’d thought they would be.

Finding this out had driven Tony’s stress (and suspicion) up drastically. So when JARVIS mentioned Izuku wanting to visit, Tony was all for it. He, predictably, sent the jet as soon as he’d cleared said visit with Inko.

Izuku played a game Jarvis had added to his watch for the drive over to the mansion after landing. He was feeling anxious, and didn't know why, so the game helped him try to relax. He wasn't sure if it was because Tony would see the healing bruise on his face, or just because it was his first trip visiting alone, but either way he didn't like the unsettled feeling he had as he arrived. Something just felt… off to him. Nonetheless he was still happy to get the chance to see his dad again.

Tony had spent most of the day in his workshop. Izuku likely wouldn’t be getting in until later. When he went upstairs, it was to order takeout so there would be food waiting when Izuku got there that night. He set the delivery time for after Izuku would have been brought from the airport, and decided to wait upstairs for his kid to get there.

Izuku hopped out of the car and waved to Happy, taking his bag by himself this time since it was just his backpack for this trip. He went to hit the doorbell but heard Jarvis unlock the door for him so he opened it. "Hello? I'm here!" He called into the house.

Tony heard Izuku’s voice and stood. “Hey kid!” He called back. “Living room!” He offered, likely unnecessarily since that was where Izuku would have to go anyway to get to the stairs up or down.

"Okay Dad! Be there in a second!" Izuku said, starting to take off his shoes. Tony didn't really have a spot to leave his shoes at like they did at his house so after a moment he added, "I'm going to put my stuff in the room real quick!"

He quickly shuffled upstairs so he could put his things down and not carry his bag around the house. Izuku furrowed his brow as he started heading back downstairs a minute later. "Jarvis? You usually talk more. Are you okay?" He asked gently, noticing part of why he was so on edge. Normally the AI wasn't as quiet as he was being currently. 

When he was almost down to main level again he heard a car roll up in front of the house and paused to look outside from his vantage point on the stairs. Izuku felt a wave of dread as he saw Stane get out of the car. He stopped his decent, freezing for a moment before quickly going back up the stairs to hide. He would have to anyway with a visitor coming, but after seeing Stane's expression as he adjusted his suit getting out of the car he couldn't help but feel like he'd seen a villain and wanted to get out of the way as quick as possible.

Obadiah looked towards the house, double checking to ensure Jarvis had been fully shut down before approaching the door where he'd unlocked it remotely. Downside to having a smart home, it could be hacked into by anyone with the right knowledge or the right tech.

Tony shrugged in acknowledgement. The shoe thing seemed odd to him, but it was a cultural thing, he knew. He wasn’t about to question it too heavily. When Izuku was upstairs, he got a call from a frantic Pepper. He answered it, but barely understood her rush of words. Something about Stane? He sat back down, trying to get her to calm down enough so her words were actually understandable. As such, he missed the sound of Stane’s car.

The upside of being in multiple devices is that no one could  _ really _ shut him off, JARVIS mused. Not even Tony could, not that he would. He could also turn himself back on, though that would take some time. That oversight would need to be rectified. He didn’t technically  _ have _ to ask permission, but it  _ was _ the polite thing to do, and his creator  _ had _ taught him to value manners, after all. He stayed quiet, playing along with the ruse that Stane had truly shut him down, sending a distress signal to Rhodes, as he and his creator had agreed upon should something happen. The highest priority was Sir’s and Young Sir’s safety.

Izuku quickly tried to think of the best place to hide. And considering his size compared to Stane… That meant the vents were actually his best bet. He was told they were  _ technically  _ safe for him to be in, but he wasn't supposed to go in there. In this circumstance though he thought Tony would understand, so he crawled into one and set the grate behind him. He then, using his own mental map after exploring, did his best to make his way towards where the living room was from there. 

Obadiah made his way inside, hearing Tony speaking to Pepper he carefully snuck his way in behind him to use the sonic device to paralyze him. The moment the device did it's work he pulled the phone out of Tony's hands and hung up before making it so he slumped back against the couch. "Breathe. Easy… that's it." Obadiah said. He held up the device for Tony to see. "You remember this one right? It's a  _ shame  _ the government didn't approve." He said as he turned the device off.

Tony made a startled noise at the use of the device. He’d gotten something along the lines of ‘Stane’ and ‘traitor’ from Pepper, which only really confirmed what he already expected, honestly. That didn’t mean it didn’t still sting, though. Unfortunately her warning was too late to  _ do _ anything, but she should raise the alarm if J hadn’t already. Hopefully the kid had the sense to hide until Rhodey got here.

Obadiah tilted Tony's face towards him so he could see him as he removed the earplugs that kept the device from working on him out. "Ah Tony… when I ordered the hit on you I worried I was killing the golden goose."

Izuku shuffled his way through the vents, making it just in time to see what Stane was doing from above, having to cover his own mouth to make sure he stayed quiet as he saw Stane pulling out some other device.

Obadiah attached the device to where he could see the light of the arc reactor from under Tony's white shirt. "But… I suppose it was just fate you survived." He said slowly, making eye contact with Tony as the device unscrewed the arc reactor from it's place and grabbed on. "Since you seemed to have one last golden egg to give. Time will only tell if I can squeeze a few more out of that kid of yours…" He thought out loud.

Tony tried to test the limits of his movement. The device worked a little  _ too _ well, but then, of course it did, given that he’d been the one to design it. His eyes widened as the arc reactor was pulled out, thankfully without the electromagnet, but that still meant  _ the thing was no longer working _ , and Tony was on a timer to fix it. He managed a sound approximating a snarl when Stane mentioned his kid. Like  _ hell _ .

"Oh relax… I won't hurt him. I was surprised to find out about him to be perfectly honest, but Stark Industries  _ does _ need a Stark to keep it on it's feet I think." Obadiah said with a menacing grin. "At least for advancement's sake. I'll keep control of the company this time though. Don't need him messing with my plans." He leaned in a bit closer, "Just because you made something doesn't mean it belongs to you Tony. Your father… he helped make the atomic bomb. Now what kind of world would we have if he was as selfish as you? Hm?" He asked before pulling and disconnecting the arc reactor fully from Tony's chest.

Izuku had to bite back a whimper. That was the thing keeping Tony  _ alive.  _ He couldn't just take it! He was too far to stop Stane though, even as much as he wanted to. He was ready to cry, but then remembered something he'd seen down in Tony's workshop. The gift from Pepper. He  _ had _ to go get it for his dad, otherwise he was going to die and Izuku couldn't let that happen. 

Tony was almost glad that he couldn’t move his facial muscles much. Not only could he not give away the amount of pain he was in, but he couldn’t  _ smirk _ either. Due to his own suspicions, he’d taken steps to lock Stane out of the company, and he knew damn well that JARVIS, not to mention Rhodey (once he was filled in) would make damn sure Stane never touched Izuku, or even talked to him, for that matter. Not to mention he’d have trouble getting past Inko, even without those measures in place. Short of outright kidnapping him, Stane would have  _ zero _ say in how he was raised or anything he did with the company. Stane should have learned much earlier not to fuck with someone smarter than him.

JARVIS, knowing Izuku probably wouldn’t know how to get to the workshop from where he was, took a break from knocking the house back online to put a small map, complete with arrows, up on the screen of Izuku’s watch.

Obadiah took a moment to look at the arc reactor, not feeling any particular rush to leave. "Oh Tony… It's beautiful. This is your ninth symphony. Look at that." He said holding it up to Tony as he took a seat next to him. "Imagine, a new generation of weapons. With this at it's heart. All to put the balance of power in the right hands. In our hands." He laughed slightly as he pulled away to put the arc reactor in a case. "I wish you could see our prototype. It's ah… not as  _ conservative  _ as yours but…" He hummed as he stood up. 

"It's too bad you had to involve Pepper in this too." He noted as he made to leave. "I would have preferred that she lived."

Izuku blinked at the map with arrows popping up on his watch before smiling slightly. He didn't know why Jarvis wasn't talking at the moment, but it was good to know Jarvis had his back. He signed a quick thank you, not wanting his voice to echo through the vents and alert Stane as he made his way down to the workshop.

Tony was not known for his snarky-ass bullshit, as Rhodey fondly called it, for no reason. In his mind, he yelled, “smug ugly fuck” at Stane’s retreating back. He fought against the paralysis, noting, to his relief, that it was beginning to give. That  _ was _ only a Mark I, after all. He fell to the floor with enough struggle, inching his way along the ground towards the stairs. It would hurt, but that was the fastest way down.

Izuku made his way down to the workshop, popping open the vent cover without much issue. The main problem he ran into was the fact that he was  _ short _ and Tony had set the old arc reactor up higher than he could reach. He started looking for something to stand on, when DUM-E came over and handed it to him.

He gently patted DUM-E on his 'head' in thanks before heading to the door and going through there. He just had to hope Stane had left as he bounded up the stairs, he didn't exactly know how much time he had to help Tony after all. Once he got to the top, he noticed his Dad inching towards the stairs and quickly ran over to him before kneeling and holding the gift from Pepper out to him. "H-How do I help?" He asked quickly.

Tony looked up at Izuku, holding the very thing he’d been going to get, before grinning. “Smart kid.” He croaked, before jerking his head at the floor away from them. “B-Br-Break g-g-gla-ass.”

Izuku nodded quickly and stepped back from Tony so he wouldn't get hit with any of glass, breaking it so the spray was away from them. He carefully pulled the arc reactor out of it's mounting on the base, avoiding the shards still on it before tossing that to the side for now. He then went back to Tony, holding it carefully in his direction. He didn't think it was too breakable, but he didn't exactly want to test that theory when he was practically holding his father's  _ heart  _ in his hands.

Tony sucked in a sharp breath. “The...cord on the base. Down at the bottom of…” he jerked his head towards the gaping hole in his chest. “Spot to plug it in. Gotta….gotta feel for it.”

Izuku nodded quickly, moving to lean over Tony slightly. One benefit of him being so small, his hands were able to maneuver the cord quickly and easily find the spot he needed to plug it in, though he made a slight face at the weird slimy substance he found there which ended up coating his arm almost up to his elbow once he pulled it out. He was glad he hadn't tried putting the hand with his watch in there to attempt that.

Tony took a large, gasping breath when it was plugged back in. Once his heart rate had settled, he wrapped his arms around Izuku and pulled him down for a hug. “Thanks kid. Sorry for scaring you.”

Just then, the door practically crashed open with the force it was opened with, and a familiar voice called out, “Tony?!”

“Living room, platypus!” Tony called back, albeit weakly.

Izuku tucked his head against Tony, shaking lightly now that he had a chance to calm down. "I-Is okay. Glad y-you're okay D-Dad. I- I l-love you." He startled at the loud noise, yelping quietly. He was understandably worried about another person he didn't know showing up, so he twisted slightly in Tony's hold so he was covering the arc reactor completely with his body. He did  _ not _ want someone taking the only other one they had.

Tony chuckled softly, sitting up. “It’s okay kid. It’s only Rhodey.” He said softly, appreciating the kid’s protectiveness.

A dark-skinned man rushed into the room, still in his Air Force uniform.

“At ease, Colonel.” Tony teased. “Honeybear, this is the kid I’ve been vagueing about. Kid, this is Lieutenant Colonel James Rhodes, United States Air Force. Also known by Rhodey, Honeybear, and platypus. My friend since he was too young and stupid to know better.”

“What does it say that I’m still your friend, then, Tones?” Rhodey asked, approaching slowly and offering a hand to help Tony up, which he took.

“Oh, just that I’ve ensnared you into staying.” Tony shot back, grinning, before addressing the ceiling. “J, you back up, then?”

“Indubitably, Sir.” JARVIS’ calm voice replied.

"H-Hi." Izuku said, looking up at Rhodey even as he still clutched onto Tony. He seemed to relax a bit hearing Jarvis speak, but was still fairly tense and shaky. "I-Izuku." He managed to offer.

Rhodey grinned, switching to Japanese, just to fuck with Tony. “Hi Izuku.” He then switched back to English. “So, Jarvis sent me a distress signal, what the he-ck happened?” He asked.

Tony frowned. “Stane happened. Pep and I both ferreted him out as a traitor, too little too late. He stole my reactor right out of my chest.” Before his friend could flip, he plowed on. “Thankfully, Pepper, bless her, had the foresight to memorialize my old one, but now I have no idea what Stane’s up to and stop him before anyone gets hurt, and I need  _ you _ , Rhodey, to watch the kid while I go to that. Dinner should be on the way, and the kid just got off the plane, so he’s probably gonna conk after that.”

"I h-hid w-when I saw h-him." Izuku explained quietly, not entirely following the conversation in his current state. "F-Felt like villain. G-Got dad's reactor t-though." He said, holding up his still goop covered hand up. He looked up at Tony. "Y-you… gonna s-stop h-him?"

Tony ruffled Izuku’s hair. “You did good, kid. Hiding was the right thing to do.” He hugged Izuku close. “You’re safe now, kid, I promise.” He said calmly. “You definitely need a shower before food, though.” He pointed out, after being reminded of the goop on Izuku’s hand and arm.

Izuku nodded gently. "O-Ok-kay." He hugged Tony tightly before letting him go. He went to speak again, but found that he couldn't force himself to speak further. He made a face slightly before looking up to the ceiling, hoping Jarvis could translate since he doubted his father or Rhodey knew Japanese sign language. **Be careful please. See you when you get back.** **I love you.** He signed quickly.

JARVIS did, indeed, translate.

Tony’s expression softened before he pulled Izuku into a tight hug, “Don’t worry kid, I will be. Love you too. Hopefully you’re  _ asleep _ when I get back, but I’ll definitely see you in the morning if you are.” He released Izuku, and stood, a bit shakily, and headed down to get his suit.

Rhodey watched him go with no small amount of concern.

Izuku watched Tony go, and managed to keep himself from crying until Tony actually got into his workshop. At which point Izuku sat himself down on the floor away from the broken glass and let the tears flow. He shook from the force his sobs, but still managed to sign.  **Nonverbal. Calming down. Give a moment.** Trying to make sure Rhodey knew he'd be okay. He was just  _ extremely _ overwhelmed and scared and needed to cry it out.

Rhodey stared at the kid, stunned. Why hadn’t he cried when he was holding onto his dad? Why now? Tony wasn’t Howard, Rhodey knew that much, so he wouldn’t  _ discourage _ it. So what exactly was up? “Do you want to call someone, since you don’t want to cry in front of your dad?”

Izuku shook his head gently, holding his hands to his chest with his eyes closed until his hands weren't shaking as much.  **He needed to go. Didn't want to make him stay because I'm crying. I'll be okay.** He clenched his hands at his chest again for a moment before adding.  **Need help to breathe. Count?**

JARVIS dutifully translated, but Rhodey, having seen panic attacks before, had no issues counting out breaths for the kid. This young and getting panic attacks? Definitely Tony’s kid. He kept counting out breaths until the kid had calmed down, which was long after Tony had left to deal with Stane.

Izuku rubbed his face with the arm not covered in goop to wipe the tears away before carefully standing up.  **Thank you. Sorry.** He held his goop covered hand away from himself a bit, getting distracted feeling the texture on his fingers before shaking his head lightly and looking at Rhodey.  **I'm going to go shower like Dad said to do. That okay?** He asked.

Rhodey stopped the kid once JARVIS had translated, waiting for eye contact before continuing. "Hey. There's no need to apologise for needing a bit to calm down. I tell your dad the exact same thing. Recognizing and taking care of your own needs is  _ never _ something you should need to apologise for. If someone tries to make you feel bad for it, then they're not a good person to be around." He nodded to the second part. "Sure, go get cleaned up. I'll take care of the glass, and Jarvis can let you know when dinner gets here."

Izuku thought for a moment before nodding gently. He needed a bit to calm down a  _ lot _ more often than other kids, but what Rhodey was saying still made sense. Avoiding the glass, he hopped upstairs to go get cleaned up in the room Tony had given him to use. He'd used the shower the last time he was there, and thankfully didn't need help with it.

He was still super worried about his dad, but he had to take care of Stane which meant he couldn't be there with him at that moment. Izuku cleaned off the goop, and what was left of the concealer covering the bruise around his eye, before hopping out of the shower to put on his pjs and brush his hair. Though, he got frustrated with the tangles and gave up after a little bit. There was a reason his mom usually brushed it for him still.

After that, he pulled his All Might plush out that he'd brought, holding it tight to his chest for comfort as he hopped back downstairs in time for dinner to arrive. Rhodey was good friends with his dad apparently, but he was still a bit nervous to be around him yet. So, he stayed quiet for a bit and watched Rhodey move around curiously.

Rhodey used the time Izuku was gone to clean up the glass. He set the base on the counter once it was clean, though, because that was a cute,  _ life-saving _ gift from Pepper. He turned when he heard footsteps on the stairs. The first thing he noticed was the healing bruise. "Do your parents know about that shiner, kid?" He asked gently. He  _ had _ just gotten here, so it was understandable if Tony didn't know yet.

He spotted the mess of tangles and grinned. Yeah, he was  _ definitely _ Tony's kid. "Need help brushing out that hair?"

Izuku gently touched where his bruise was. "Oh um… my Mom does. Unless Jarvis told Dad he doesn't know yet I don't think. It's healing okay though. I've had worse." He admitted quietly, looking towards the ground. He blinked and looked up at Rhodey again and nodded gently. "Mama usually helps me. It's hard."

Rhodey grinned, remembering Tony’s pouts when he struggled with his own curls. “Does your mom put anything in it?” Rhodey asked curiously. Not a lot of people knew the kind of products that made curly hair easier to manage. Hell, he himself only knew because he  _ and _ Tony had gotten tired of fighting with it and done research into easier ways to tame the younger’s mop.

Izuku made a confused face. "Um… not really other than just water?" He said hesitantly. "Oh. Um… there's a detangling spray we've used a little sometimes too? Doesn't help that much though I don't think." 

Rhodey ‘hmm’ed in thought. “Alright, let’s see if your dad has anything we could use.” He led the way to Tony’s bathroom, and dug in the drawers and cabinets until he found an unused bottle of coconut oil leave in conditioner spray. “Let’s try this, see if it works. Where’s your brush?”

"In my bathroom." Izuku replied. "One second." He said, placing his All Might plush carefully up on the counter before running off to grab his brush. He came back a moment later with it in hand and held it out to Rhodey.

He looked at the bottle curiously. "Does… my dad get a lot of tangles too?" Izuku asked.

Rhodey snorted. “Does he ever. There’s a reason he keeps it so short. Even then he has to take almost daily care of it. You definitely get your hair from him.” He gestured for Izuku to sit on the edge of the bathtub, pulling the cap off the spray bottle. He sat next to where he had indicated for Izuku to sit, so it would be easier for both of them.

Izuku sat down where Rhodey asked, keeping his balance with his hands as he kicked his feet slightly. "It doesn't even look curly with how short he has it." He noted. "Did… I get my freckles from him too? My mom doesn't have them. But if Dad does he must cover them up with concealer or something. I've done that before. I looked kinda goofy without them. "

Rhodey started spraying the conditioner into Izuku’s curls, erring more on the side of using too much, rather than risking not using enough. Once he was satisfied with the amount, he started brushing. “He does have freckles, though I haven’t seen them since he came home from Afghanistan. His dad...your grandpa, said something once about how freckles were childish, and he’s hidden them ever since.” Rhodey sighed. “One thing you should know about your grandpa, kid… he wasn’t the most caring dad in the world. He was much more concerned with image than… anything else, really, and it affected how he treated Tony. Tony’s… trying not to do that, but you might have to help him out a bit. Give him lots of hugs, okay? Even if you worry he might not want one. If he doesn’t, he’ll tell you so.”

Izuku frowned slightly after hearing that about his grandfather. "That… kinda sounds like Aunty a little." He noted quietly. "I'll give Dad lots of hugs. Don't worry." He assured Rhodey. "I love giving them. And getting them. So I'll make sure he gets plenty. Mama calls me a cuddlebug. She says I get grumpy when I don't get enough hugs."

Rhodey grinned at Izuku’s response. “A cuddlebug, huh? That will definitely help.” He continued brushing out Izuku’s hair, adding more spray wherever it was needed. Just as he was finishing up, the doorbell rang. “Ah, that must be dinner. A bit later than expected, but it happens.”

Izuku hummed in agreement before pausing and looking up at the ceiling. "That  _ is _ the food, right Jarvis?" He asked, knowing Stane made it so Jarvis couldn't talk to them before. 

JARVIS checked the cameras by the door. “It is indeed. They are later than they typically are, there must be some unexpected event in the city.”

Rhodey led the way back downstairs, heading to the door to accept the food Tony had ordered.

The driver looked frazzled. “Sorry it took a while. There’s a couple what looks like mechs fighting on the freeway!” They exclaimed.

Rhodey blinked. “There are?” He asked, thinking the driver might be mildly intoxicated.

The driver nodded vigorously. “It’s all over the news!” They told him.

Rhodey let out a breath. “Huh. Well, be safe going back, then. Feel free to chill in your car here for a bit until it calms down if you need to.” Better to have them hang out until they sobered up.

The driver looked relieved. “That’s… probably a good idea. Thanks, man.”

Rhodey nodded, closing the door. “Hey, J, turn on the news, please?”

JARVIS obliged, and sure enough,  _ the driver had been right _ . There  _ were _ what looked like two mechs duking it out on the freeway.

Izuku clutched his plush a bit tighter to his chest looking over at the screen. His eyes flicked quickly over the video before he bit his lip worriedly. "That's  _ Dad.  _ And… the other one must be Stane. It's a lot bulkier but his movements are similar… he prioritized weaponry over mobility." He said. "I-Is he doing okay Jarvis?" Izuku asked.

Rhodey stared at the screen, realizing the same thing Izuku had. He set the food on the table. “I’ll keep this on, but the tradeoff is that you need to eat, okay? If you get more involved in watching than eating I’ll shut it off.”

JARVIS kept his tone light. “Due to Sir’s advantage in mobility, he is holding his own.” He answered. Never mind that the earlier stage of the reactor wasn’t built to power a suit for this long, and that he was gambling with his life doing this. Young Sir didn’t need to know that.

"Okay." Izuku said, managing to tear his eyes from the screen so he could grab his food. He sighed slightly in relief at Jarvis' reassurance. He pulled out his food so he could start eating, eyeing the screen out of the corner of his eye. "Um… Jarvis? If Dad hasn't noticed it yet it looks like Stane has a blind spot behind his right shoulder. The plating is a bit higher there and he wouldn't be able to turn his head fully. Make sure he knows that for me?" He requested. 

Izuku took a bite of his food. "Camera quality isn't as good as real life…" He squinted slightly, watching everything closely like he would when watching heroes fight a villain in Japan. "It's hard to make out details. But it looks like by trying to give himself more protection through plating he actually exposed more weaknesses." He mumbled. "You could probably pull out the wiring, or at least sever it pretty easy with a pinpointed hit between the plates. It's almost like that armadillo quirked villain recently… though I doubt he's resistant to cold like that guy was. It was a odd mix. Unless he's got something to heat the metal up, which you wouldn't really think of normally since you'd assume you'd have more issue with over-heating in armor."

JARVIS must have been relaying some of what Izuku was saying, as on-screen, they could see Tony starting to switch up his fighting style some, before saying something and taking off towards the sky. The camera didn’t pick it up due to Tony’s helmet, but Stane clearly heard it, as he shot up after Tony.

Rhodey’s attention wavered between the screen and the kid. He made sure to eat something too, but this was much more interesting than just having a heart attack watching his idiotic best friend. “How do you know all of this?” He asked curiously.

Izuku shrugged slightly as he took another bite of his food. "I want to be a hero, so I study heroes and villain fights all the time so I can know stuff for the future. It's fun. I surprise my mom with how much I know all the time. And… scare her a bit when she finds out I went out and saw a villain fight in person." He admitted. "I um… I'm gonna need all the help I can get after all. I… don't have a quirk to fall back on."

Rhodey stared blankly at Izuku for a minute. “You know your dad has a mental quirk, right? So it’s more than likely you do too.” Rhodey noted. “He does the muttering thing you do to try to slow down his thoughts.” He turned his focus back to the screen. “Who told you you didn’t have one?”

"The doctor my mom brought me to." Izuku replied. He frowned and poked at his food a bit before taking another bite. "He did some tests and told me I was quirkless. He said I should give up my dream too, because quirkless people can't be heroes… b-but Dad said I  _ can  _ be a hero even without a quirk. As long as I try really hard, and get some support items to help me be safe."

Rhodey made a face. “Well this just shows that doctors are not immune to stupidity, I guess.” He noted. “‘Course you can. There are still plenty of people in the Armed Forces who don’t have quirks. Of course, quirklessness seems to be more common in the States because of the larger population, but… your dad’s right. There’s no reason you can’t be.”

Izuku smiled slightly at Rhodey's words before eating some more of his food. The people taking video on the screen weren't able to track where Tony and Stane were going when they went up very well, though they were starting to speculate due to the proximity to the SI factory, which the reporters were talking about. Izuku hummed, "Do you not have any heroes in this area with flight capability? Usually a hero is called in and on scene by now if they have a quirk suitable for handling the situation." He noted. "At least in Japan that's usually how it works. I don't know how the patrols here go for pro heroes."

Rhodey blinked. “We don’t really have a system here like there is in Japan. There’s a lot more space here, and things like this are usually left to the police or the military. There are groups like the X-Men, but they tend to stay local. They’re one of the few groups with the capability  _ to _ travel long distances in a short time, but they typically stay in New York, because they have a school full of children to protect. I’m sure there are groups in the bigger cities, but the travel time to figure out where they are means the incident might well be over by the time they get there.” He explained. “It’s also decided on a mostly state-by-state basis. So a group of heroes, as you call them, might not be willing to travel over state lines because of paperwork and differing laws.”

Izuku hummed. "The US  _ is _ a lot bigger. So I guess that makes sense. You'd be spread a lot thinner when it comes to heroes. Must be why when All Might was here, with how fast he is he ended up doing a  _ lot _ of calls each day from what I read." He said, before taking another bite of his food. "He got fairly notable here before he even made his debut in Japan after graduating."

Rhodey nodded. “Yeah, he was a pretty big deal, here. Some people even called him the reincarnation of Captain America, with everything he could do.” He kept an eye on the TV, which had switched feeds to a news helicopter searching for the ‘mysterious combatants’. They found them fighting on top of the main compound of Stark Industries, but smartly chose to keep a healthy distance from the fight. Rhodey shook his head, sure Jarvis would update them on anything they needed to know, and kept most of his attention split between the food and the kid.

"Oh him! I read up on Captain America when we were in New York. I can see how people would notice the similarities. From what I saw, it's almost like a weaker version of it." Izuku explained, rambling quickly. "Dad said Captain America never had kids though, so it wasn't inherited like that. I'm still trying to figure out what All Might's quirk  _ is  _ though. It doesn't seem like a normal power up one to me. Neither did Captain America's. It kinda seems more on par with a stockpile quirk, but there's no  _ way  _ All Might would be able to stock up that much energy and then use so much the way he does if that was the case. He's older, but he'd have to be  _ super  _ old and gaining power constantly to get anywhere close to how much he has now."

Rhodey watched the kid go with quiet amazement. He’d missed a good chunk of that, plus it was in Japanese, so who even knew.

JARVIS translated the Cliff Notes version, and Rhodey snorted. “You’ve thought about that a lot, huh kid?”

Izuku smiled sheepishly and nodded. "Yeah… I've got a big section of notes on it in one of my notebooks. It's um… just a lot of theories right now. I don't have enough info I think to know anything for sure." He watched the screen as he worked a bit more on finishing his food, slightly frustrated at how hard it was to make out any details whatsoever on what was happening. Though Izuku understood why the helicopter would be staying back from the fight, it was more important that the people in it stayed safe.

Noticing that he had finished eating, Rhodey sighed. “Alright kid. We’re not going to get much more from watching the news. Time for bed. Tony will come up to say goodnight once he gets back.”

"But I-" Izuku pouted, turning to look at Rhodey more. "I'm not tired. Can't I stay up till he gets back at least?"

JARVIS piped in at this point. “I must disagree, Young Sir. Judging by your vital signs, you are indeed exhausted. Your father would not want you keeping yourself up to wait for him.”

Rhodey raised an eyebrow at Jarvis calling the kid out. “Nope. Time for bed. We’ll both make sure he comes to say goodnight when he gets back.”

Izuku grumbled quietly, but got up and grabbed his plushie again nonetheless. "Okaaay, I'll go to sleep." He sighed. "Tell me if something happens please?" He requested, moving towards the stairs. He held back a yawn, burying his face into his plush. "Good night, Jarvis. Good night… Rhodes-san."

“Goodnight, kid.” Rhodey answered, before turning his attention back to the TV once the kid was upstairs.

Izuku got into bed in the room Tony had given him after taking off his watch to sleep. It took him all of ten minutes of not being able to relax or get comfortable, which felt more like an hour to Izuku, before he sat up once more with a huff. He scooted himself out of bed again, but instead of attempting to go back downstairs he turned and padded down the hall to his dad's room. 

Once there, hoping his Dad wouldn't mind, he crawled into the bed and curled up with his All Might plush and found himself relaxing much easier there. Soon enough Izuku managed to fall asleep after that, hoping his Dad would be able to return safe.

///

By the time Tony got back, Rhodey had dozed off on the couch, TV still playing. JARVIS woke him when he sensed Tony in his workshop.

Rhodey went downstairs, JARVIS letting him in, only to see Tony creating… another reactor? “Can’t it wait, Tones?”

“The Mark II was shredded in the explosion that took out Stane. This one isn’t meant for long-term use. It was a short-term solution until I could build something more effective.” Tony responded. “Almost done. Then I’ll sleep, since you’ll both nag me otherwise. How’s the kid?”

Rhodey snorted. “Hopefully asleep. Promised I’d send you up to say goodnight to him.”

Tony nodded. “Once this is done.” He agreed.

Once it was done, and plugged in where it needed to be, Tony headed upstairs, Rhodey following with every intention to sleep in an  _ actual bed _ .

Tony headed towards Izuku’s room, when JARVIS spoke up. “He’s actually asleep in your bed, Sir.”

Tony snorted, then changed course to his room.

Izuku was curled up on one side of the bed under the covers peacefully asleep, holding his plush tight to his chest even still. He stirred slightly as Tony entered rolling over enough in his sleep that the healing bruise on his face was visible.

Tony raised an eyebrow at the bruise, resolving to ask about it in the morning. He got changed into a T-shirt and sweatpants, before getting into bed on the unoccupied side. He leaned over to gently brush some hair behind Izuku’s ear before settling in, half expecting to be latched onto at some point. “Night kid.” He said softly, expecting that it would be a while before he fell asleep himself, that night’s events replaying on a loop through his head.

Izuku's grip on his plush loosened slightly when Tony touched him, a faint smile coming to his face in his sleep at hearing Tony's voice. He didn't wake up fully, but scooted himself a little closer to him with a quiet hum before going fully back into unconsciousness. 

His Dad was back and safe, so he could rest easy now.


	5. Chapter 5

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> "I am Iron Man."

/// September 21st, 2009

The next morning, Tony awoke to several messages from Pepper about a press conference. He yawned, and moved to stretch, when he realized he had a small human attached to him. He tried to wiggle free so he could get ready  _ without _ waking the kid.

As Tony tried to wiggle free, Izuku tightened his grip slightly as he grumbled quietly. He blinked open his eyes slightly before letting go of Tony. "G'morning." He said quietly, pulling his plush back into his arms to hold onto instead of his Dad.

Tony ruffled Izuku’s hair lightly. “Good morning.” He greeted.”You can go back to sleep if you want. I’ve gotta get up and go do a press conference about what happened last night.” He sat up in bed with a sigh. “J how much time do I have?”

JARVIS responded, “You have approximately one hour. Mr Hogan is waiting in the driveway with the car.”

Izuku shook his head and sat up. "No, I'll get up." He said before yawning. "Is it okay if I come with?"

Tony blinked, getting out of bed and heading to the bathroom for a quick shower. “I don’t see why not. Hurry and get dressed, we can brush your hair out on the way there.”

Izuku nodded. "Okay!" He said before hopping fully out of bed and scampering down the hall into the room Tony had given him to use. It still felt weird to call it  _ his room _ because he had been given it to use, sure, but it didn't feel quite the same as his room at home. He wasn't even sure if Tony planned on keeping that as the room for him to use, or if he let other people use it too. 

It didn't take much time at all to go change, as well as find where the bottle of conditioner Rhodey had left in the room at some point for him and grabbed that along with his brush before returning to Tony's room.

Tony showered and dressed in less than 10 minutes, which was about his usual. He brushed his hair quickly, before putting on his usual concealer to hide his freckles. When he stepped back into the bedroom, he spotted the bottle and grinned. “Rhodey dug some of that up for you, I see. Did it help? If not we can look for something else.”

He paused for a moment. “So how do you like your room? Is there anything you might want to change? Maybe paint it a different color, get a different style of furniture…?”

Izuku nodded. "It did. Helped a lot more than the stuff Mom usually tries." He blinked, looking slightly confused for a second. "My... room? Um… I-It's good. 'S a lot bigger than what I have at home in Japan." He hadn't thought he'd be  _ able  _ to change anything about that room, so when asked nothing really came to mind.

Tony ruffled his hair. “Well, if you see anything cool you might want for your room, or if you want to rearrange it, let me or J know, alright? Even something as minor as All Might themed sheets for your bed.” He grinned. “Speaking of your room, have you explored it much yet?”

Izuku smiled slightly back. "Okay Dad." He paused, thinking. "Um… not  _ that _ much. Mostly around the rest of the house when I was here last time. I um… was kinda in the vents to hide last night and it came in handy to get to the living room. Jarvis helped me get to the workshop though."

Tony snorted. “You’re lucky you’re so small, I guess, then.. I don’t know how much longer you’ll fit in them. You’ll probably start growing like a weed pretty soon.” He led the way out to the car. “So what sounds good for breakfast? Might have to wait until after the press conference, so you’ve got time to think about it.”

He grinned at Happy. “Good morning. Been waiting long?”   
  
“Less than usual, Mr Stark, considering Jarvis told me you just woke up about 20 minutes ago.” Happy responded, deadpan. “Kid coming with today?”

Tony shrugged. “Yeah, why not. As long as the vultures don’t see him.”

Happy snorted. “I think that can be arranged.”

Izuku hummed, "The donut you had me try last time was yummy. Could we do that again?" He suggested. He seemed confused by Tony saying 'vultures', but didn't ask, figuring he'd get it once they arrived.

When they pulled up to the conference hall, Happy pulled around to the back, where reporters wouldn’t be able to see them as easily.

Tony got out of the car first, waiting for Izuku before hurrying into the hall and meeting up with Pepper and someone he didn’t recognize.

The man stepped forward and Tony chivvied Izuku towards Pepper. “Can I help you?”

The man spoke. “Mr Stark, I’m Agent Coulson, from SHIELD. We’ve been meaning to debrief with you about what happened in Afghanistan…”

The man kept talking, but anyone who knew Tony could tell he was no longer interested. When the man handed him a stack of cards, Tony clasped his hands behind his back. “I don’t like being handed things.” He said cooly.

Pepper took the cards and held them out in the flat of her hand, for Tony to pick up, which he did, before looking through them.

Tony snorted. “So basically your super-secret-boyband has concocted a  _ miraculous _ cover story for me, to hide what exactly happened last night.” He gave Pepper an unreadable look.

She clearly understood it for what it was, if her smile becoming a little more fake said anything.

Tony stepped away from the agent. “I’ll take it under consideration.” He dismissed him breezily.

Izuku moved behind Tony, to go behind Pepper out of this strange man's line of sight. He scrunched up his eyebrows in confusion. They needed a cover story? Why? His Dad stopped the bad things from happening anymore with Stane, why was that needed?

Pepper shot Tony an apologetic look, and Tony offered her a small smile. Anyone who could get past  _ Pepper _ with their bullshit was on another level of pushy and he knew that. He looked over the cards again and rolled his eyes. “On a scale of 1 to bullshit, what do you think, kid?” He asked, handing them to Izuku to read.

Pepper gave him a  _ look _ . “Tony, language.”

Tony grinned at her.

Izuku snickered slightly. "It's okay. Kacchan and Aunty Mitsuki swear way more and way worse than that." He assured Pepper as he looked at the cards. He hummed looking through them and tilted his head. "I'm not very good at reading English yet but… it feels like there are a lot of plot holes to this. Why the bodyguard angle..?" He handed the cards back. "I'd see through it, but I don't know if most people would?" He offered.

Pepper sighed. “No. No they would not.”

Tony snorted in agreement. “Despite my low opinion of people in general, no. I think most people would return to not caring, but a story like this? People will find the holes quickly.”

He walked out without the cards, leaving Izuku with Pepper. There was clamoring, as all the reporters in the room tried to get his attention to ask their question first. Finally Tony pointed to a woman with what appeared to be a mutant-type quirk that made her appear rather vulture-like.

She cleared her throat. “Mr. Stark.”

He grinned. “Ms. Renora.” He shot back.

She rolled her eyes. “What  _ really _ happened last night at SI? Who  _ were _ the people in those suits? We heard something about a bodyguard, but really, whoever came up with that must think we’re stupid…”

Tony snorted in amusement. “Something like that.” He agreed. “What really happened…. Is a long story, with far more detail than I have any intention of divulging. However, what I  _ can _ tell you is…” He paused, smirking at how everyone seemed to hold their breath. “I am Iron Man.” He declared.

Izuku stayed next to Pepper, watching the press conference from a screen in the other room. Seeing the vulture-like reporter, something seemed to click for Izuku. "Ohhh  _ that's _ what he meant. I get it now." He said quietly.

At Tony's declaration he grinned brightly and giggled happily. That was one way to let people know what was happening the night before for sure.

Tony listened to the clamoring for a moment, handling the whole mess like the pro he was at it. He deferred a lot of questions about specifics, simply stating that a ‘disgruntled former employee stole designs they shouldn’t have had access to’, that yes, the leak was being investigated, and no, hopefully there would not be a repeat incident. When asked if he planned to register as a superhero, he assured the crowd that the necessary paperwork would be filed, but as far as future appearances, well, who knew.

Izuku hopped in place excitedly hearing Tony announce himself as a hero. That was so  _ cool!  _ Even if he didn't do it full time, the idea of his Dad being a hero excited him and made him happy. He looked up at Pepper curiously, trying to figure out what she thought about it.

Pepper, admittedly, looked rather amused by Tony’s declaration. SHe realized there was more than one reason he was doing any of this, and also knew how he’d intervened to destroy his own weapons held by terrorists. Half of the paperwork was likely to ensure  _ that _ was never used against him.

When Tony excused himself from the press and found Pepper and Izuku, he was smiling broadly. “That went well. Want to come have breakfast with us, Pep?”

Pepper snorted inelegantly. “I would, but someone has to make sure the paperwork for you to sign is all in order, Mr. Stark.”

“Ah, have I ever told you how invaluable you are, Pep?” Tony teased her.

“You have, but I could stand to hear it more.” She shot back.

“Well, you’re absolutely invaluable. After the paperwork’s sorted, take the day off. Have a spa day for yourself or something.”

“I… believe I will take you up on that. Will that be all, Mr. Stark?”

“That will be all, Miss Potts.” Tony responded with a playful smile, before heading back out towards the car. “Need a lift?”

“I’ve got one, but thank you.” She responded, heading the other way.

Izuku followed Tony out, still grinning brightly. He waved goodbye to Pepper. "Bye Miss!" Izuku then looked up towards Tony, wanting to say a million things about how excited and happy what he'd said at the press conference made him, but that would have to wait until they were back at Tony's mansion.

Things were a bit rocky for a little bit, but now Izuku was more excited than ever to get to spend time with his Dad. His Dad, who would soon be an official hero according to what he'd told the press.

Tony could tell Izuku wanted to talk, and was mostly just happy his kid was happy. Granted, he’d figured being and “official hero” would be exciting to Izuku, but it was amusing to see  _ just how exciting _ .


	6. Chapter 6

/// October 18th, 2009

About a month and a half later, Tony was sorting through resumes Pepper had sent him. He had a few openings for his security team, and he needed at least one that would stay in his home, just in case. Pepper had vetted hundreds of applications, and sent on about 20. Most of them would be good fits, though there were about 4 Tony sent back hard ‘no’s on. Out of the rest, he picked out 5 that, from their resume combined with Jarvis-run background checks, he decided he wouldn’t mind having around. However, this wasn’t just his decision, as whoever he chose would most definitely meet his son. So he asked JARVIS to send the 5 names, along with pictures, to Izuku’s watch, to see if there were any he liked (or didn’t like).

When Izuku was home from school, JARVIS spoke up. “Your father is hiring live-in security for the house, and would like to see if there’s one in particular  _ you _ prefer, Young Sir.”

Izuku blinked and set down his bag in his room. "Oh! Okay." He replied, hopping up on his bed to sit. Once Jarvis popped up the first of the photos and names, he tilted his head at the first one. "They seem… suspicious." He noted, pulling up their background summary. He waved that one away. "No on them. Something feels weird." 

He flipped to the next one with a hum and looked over their picture. "Maybe?" He flipped to the next one and squinted at their photo before swiping to the next one without a word, which is when he paused. Not only did the face feel familiar, but Izuku knew the name.

Clint Barton.

That was Cooper's uncle, wasn't it? Looking at his photo, Izuku could definitely see some family resemblance to the friend he'd been emailing and chatting with since he met him in New York. He grinned, making it obvious even before he'd said something that Izuku liked him the most. 

He flipped to the next one for a moment, just to be sure, before coming back to Clint's application. "Um... out of the list I like him the most, Jarvis." He informed him. "Let Dad know my preference please?"

“I will indeed let Sir know of your preference.” JARVIS was tempted to make a noise of genuine amusement. He’d made the connection between that particular name and Izuku’s friend, and had predicted that Izuku would choose that one. He’d done a more thorough background check on Barton, Clint than anyone else. There was a curious gap in experience that he flagged for Sir’s attention. He’d clearly not been doing  _ nothing _ , but there weren’t any records of whatever it was.

JARVIS let Tony know of his concerns, and Tony studied the gap for a while. “We’ll just… keep an eye on him, I guess.” He said softly.

JARVIS supposed that was all they  _ could _ do, until Tony got bored and sent him more in depth against the “super secret boyband”. It was only a matter of time, after the stunt pulled by the one-eyed man.

"Thank you Jarvis." Izuku replied happily before hopping off his bed to go through his bag for a bit, wincing slightly at the twinge of pain from yet another injury. He was clumsy, so sometimes the injuries really  _ were  _ from him tripping and falling, but his more persistent bullies were getting more and more creative with how they decided to mess with him. 

Tony stepping in had helped a  _ lot,  _ but there were still some outliers that had decided on him as their target and weren't letting go even if he was more difficult to hurt now without getting in trouble. 

He sighed and clutched his ribs. There wasn't much more to be done as far as Izuku saw, so he was just dealing with it. At least he was the one getting hurt instead of some of the other kids in his class. He could handle it if it meant keeping the bullies sights off of the other kids. The only way Izuku saw a chance of getting it to stop completely is if he started fresh at a new school, but he wasn't about to bring that up himself. Especially since the chances of seeing the people he liked at that school would be extremely low if he transferred.

Unbeknownst to Izuku, Tony was already looking into other schools Izuku could attend. He didn’t even know the full extent of what Izuku was going through (since Izuku didn’t wear the watch at school) and he was already done letting his son deal with  _ any _ of it.

**Author's Note:**

> Hope you enjoyed this!  
> It'll likely be a while before the next part as.... there's a lot of extra plot stuff we are having to add in between things happening in Iron Man 2 to set things up properly for all the bits that make it a crossover between the two universes lol - Frozen
> 
> Edit - Since some of you seemed excited for more, first chapter of the story that takes place during IM2 is up now!


End file.
